The Dark Side of Antarctica
by Strawberry Shortcake123
Summary: The Final Warning in Fang's POV. Follows the books, but also unveils a behind-the-scenes scheme we never saw. A scheme meant to rip apart Max and Fang. FAX. T for teen book.
1. Chapter 1

**I asked readers of Sick Days what they thought of this idea, and several people encouraged me to do it. And so… here I am.**

**My challenge to myself: Take this book, The Final Warning, that nobody likes, rewrite it in Fang's point of view, and make it something people will enjoy.**

**It's gonna be tough, alright. But I'm doing it.**

**The first two chapters are about people hunting the flock or something, so I'll fill those in with scenes I make myself. But Chapter 3 is Ari's funeral, just like in the book!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride; James Patterson owns that, and most of the dialogue in this story.**

Yo.

This is another one of those books about the six flying kids and their talking dog. You're used to hearing these from the perspective of my best friend, Max. That makes sense-- she's a smartass with a huge mouth. But even though I'm a quiet person, I have plenty to say, too. I have a tale to tell.

And this is it. One of fear and death. Love and rejection and jealousy. Hope and disappointment. Running and staying. Capture and escape.

A traitor turned good.

A group of evil Plexiglas boxes.

A flirtatious scientist.

Wings. Friends. Family.

It's one messed up story.

But it's mine.

--Fang

**I know, it's really, really short, I'm sorry! Seven reviews and I put the next chapter up right away!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Same.**

I closed my eyes against the cold air blowing in my face, coasting on a current for a minute. Now that the flock had reunited, I could fly knowing that everything was as it should be: we were together, we were safe. Max was up ahead of me, and it no longer felt like I was flying with one wing missing.

Max. I opened my eyes and watched her for a long moment. Her white and brown wings were moving powerfully, gracefully, her hair flying out behind her. Anybody else would have thought she looked simply majestic. But those people don't know her like I do.

Something was up.

I glided up alongside her. The look in her eyes was one I recognized: distant, intent but unfocused on her surroundings, as if she was talking to the Voice. Max didn't notice me, just kept looking straight ahead.

I moved closer so I could brush my wingtips lightly with hers on the down stroke. When it did, she turned to me, startled, and then her face softened.

"Hey," I said. Behind me, I could hear Nudge and Angel giggling over something, and Iggy and the Gasman talking in hushed voices. Nobody was paying attention to the two of us.

"Hey," Max replied, facing forward again.

I waited, expecting her to say something else. When she didn't, I went on. "You okay?"

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. I'd hit a nerve, I knew. I felt like there was something being kept from me, and I wanted to know what it was.

"Is it--" I stopped, reminding myself to just give her time, she'd spill when she was ready. I had started to ask if something about Ari was bothering her. We were currently on our way to meet Jeb Batchelder in some forest in the Northeast to bury him. I may have been opposed to letting Ari join the flock, but if his death was bothering Max, I wanted to know. Needed to know.

"Yeah," Max said quietly. "It's about Ari."

Her openness surprised me, but I took advantage. "Ari," I pressed.

"Yeah," she said again, biting her lip. Then she turned to look me in the eyes. I'd never seen hers so serious. "Fang, he really was my brother. My half-brother."

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	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, this is the first scene that's actually in the book. Ari's funeral.**

**Boy, I had a hard time with this… summing up Fang's thoughts about Ari and mixing them with his feelings for Max is not easy. I suppose I figured it out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

Standing there, looking at the hole Jeb and the flock had dug for Ari, I began to feel like the biggest asshole on the face of the earth.

The poor kid _was_ only seven, and his own father left him to be tortured by some insane scientists. With only a few days to live, he had deserved the taste of freedom Max had given him.

Max.

I knew I'd hurt her, knew it took a lot to make her talk in that weak voice she'd used when asking me not to leave her again. The fact that I'd done that to her just killed me. I was always taking care of Max, protecting her from whatever our present danger was and hating anything that tried to hurt her. And then, I'd become that danger.

I looked over at her. She was holding Nudge's hand, and they were both blinking back tears. Whenever Max was in pain, I wanted to hug her, kiss her-- anything to make it go away. I loved her. I knew that much, without question.

The Gasman was standing beside me, and he followed my gaze. Then he leaned over and whispered, "Is Max okay?"

None of the kids ever saw their fearless leader, their mother figure, looking so crestfallen. I knew that she would want me to stay strong for them in her moment of weakness, so I nodded. "Yeah. She'll be fine."

Gazzy seemed satisfied with this and turned to face where Angel was sprinkling some dirt on the coffin.

"Bye, Ari," she said tearfully. "I didn't know you for very long, and I didn't like you for a lot of it. But I liked you at the end. You helped us. You saved us. I'll miss you. And I didn't mind your fangs or anything."

Max hugged her, and I looked down at the dirt of the forest floor, feeling new guilt wash over me. Ari really had been good. I had hurt Max, not to mention the others, for nothing. I didn't know what to say when it was my turn, but I knew it had to be something. After what I'd done, I couldn't _not_ say something nice about the kid.

The Gasman moved forward and mumbled, "I'm sorry about what they did to you. It wasn't your fault."

He turned around and came back over to me, and I took his hand, like I had in Los Angeles.

Nudge attempted to say something about Ari, but she choked up and then started crying. Max hugged her, too, and looked at Iggy over her head.

"I don't have anything to say," he said simply.

It was my turn. I wished I could dismiss it, too, but I had to say something. It may be too late to make anything up to Ari, but I could still get Max's forgiveness. At the moment, I was at a loss for words, however, so I motioned for her to go.

She reluctantly broke away from the girls and gently kicked Total off of her shoes. I watched carefully as she walked to the edge of the grave and dropped two flowers into it, rather than dirt, like the others had done. Her shoulders were tense, her face sad and… helpless, almost.

Seeing that look on her face did me in. I tugged my hand out of Gazzy's and walked up to Max, placing my hand on the small of her back. She turned to me, her chocolate eyes shining with unshed tears. I nodded, telling her she'd done all she needed to do, and stroked her hair once.

After stooping down to pick up a handful of dirt, I tossed it on the coffin and began to speak. "Well, Ari, I'm sorry that it's ended like this," I said softly. Somebody sniffled loudly. "You were a decent little kid, and then you were a total nightmare. I didn't trust you-- until the very end. I didn't know you much, didn't care to." I moved my bangs out of my eyes so I could see the coffin again. The coffin that held a little boy who never got to live his life. Who turned out to be good, and I wouldn't even give him a chance. "Right now, that feels like the biggest tragedy of all."

A small whimper came from behind me, and I turned quickly to see Max with her hand over her mouth, Nudge and Angel standing on either side, holding her. I crossed the few feet between us, gently nudging the two girls to the side so I could wrap my arms around Max, guiding her head into my shoulder and letting her cry.

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	4. Chapter 4

I held Max for a long time. It was the most I'd seen her cry since the incident at the beach. One by one, the rest of the flock let go of her and drifted off to the side, until it was only the two of us. Her face was still hidden in my shoulder, but she was no longer full-out sobbing, instead just hiccupping and sniffling now and then. I rubbed her back with one hand and stroked her hair with the other, loving the feel of her in my arms but hating all the pain she was going through.

Eventually, Max pulled away from me, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, and muttered, "Thanks."

I nodded and stuffed my hands in my pockets, striding back over to the grave to help Jeb and the flock bury Ari under the dirt. Max followed closely behind me, and we completed the grueling task in silence.

When we were finally done, Jeb said, "We need to go," through tight lips. He looked right at Max and continued. "Dr. Martinez and I talked to you about this trip to Washington. We think it's crucial that you guys attend this meeting."

Oh, yeah. The very important people who were presumably concerned with the flock's well-being. Right.

"Why is this important, again?" Max asked. Her voice wasn't as tough as it usually would be in this situation. "You said something about government, blah blah blah?"

Rather than answering her, Jeb turned and started to walk off. She followed, and the flock went behind her, single-file. I took my place at the end of the line, making sure the flock was covered on both sides.

"After everything that happened in Germany," he said finally, "we were contacted by some very important higher-ups in the government. People who understand, who are on our side."

_Our side_. As far as I was concerned, Jeb had betrayed us once and was, therefore, still a traitor. End of story.

"They're eager to meet with you. Frankly, these would be important and valuable allies-- people who could actually offer you protection and resources. But they're very hands-on-- they need to see the miracle kids with their own eyes." He cast us a small smile over his shoulder.

"If by 'miracle kids' you mean innocent test-tube babies whose DNA was forcibly unraveled and merged with two percent avian genes, yeah, I guess that would be us," Max said, placing a hand on her hip. "Because it's a miracle that we're not complete _nut jobs _and mutant _disasters_."

I was relieved to hear her mouthing off. It suddenly made everything feel normal.

Jeb nodded at her solemnly. "Well, as I said, they're eager to see you. And your mom-- Dr. Martinez-- and I really recommend you go."

That was when we emerged from the woods. Looming in front of us was a private jet, the glare from the sun bouncing off it, into our eyes. The scene was complete with-- wait for it-- two Secret Service agents standing on either side of the entry stairs.

Guess they're really trying hard on that Bird Kid Protection Program, huh?

Max stopped, Nudge bumping into her from behind. She glanced around, looking for signs of trouble, I knew. A twinge of protectiveness made me leave my post at the back of the flock and stride up to stand beside her.

"I don't know," she said airily, her gaze falling on the jet. "It feels weird that no one's throwing a black hood over my head."

I smirked. There was my Max, sarcastic as ever.

From a few feet in front of us, Jeb stopped walking, hesitated, and then turned. "Max," he said slowly, like she was stupid. I narrowed my eyes at him. "We talked about this. This jet will actually get you to Washington faster than you can fly yourselves."

"Yeah," Max said, biting her lip. I saw her wings twitch beneath her windbreaker, and I knew she was thinking about how she wanted to launch herself into the air, where she had the whole sky, and not just the interior of a little plane.

"Max," Jeb said quietly. "Don't you trust me?"

Silence fell over our little group as we all watched him. I sized him up, wondering how I'd ever seen him as a father figure, how I'd trusted him, when he was planning to sell us out the whole time.

Finally, Max said, "No. But I trust my mother, and she apparently trusts you. So, little tin-can jet it is."

With that, she crossed her arms and started walking toward the plane, shoulders back and chin in the air. I tapped the back of Iggy's hand twice, motioned for the rest of the flock to follow, and took off after her.

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	5. Chapter 5

**As of last night, I am on Twitter! I'll post updates about my stories and stuff on there. My username on here was too long for that site, so it's StrawShort123. Link is in my profile.**

**Okay, there's not going to be any details about Fang and Gazzy's poker game… I have no idea how to play.**

**And I'm aware that Fang sounds kind of… obsessed… with Max… I'm trying to make him think about other things, but I'm finding it pretty hard, since the dude doesn't really talk…**

"Do you want to play poker?" the Gasman asked, holding up a handful of pennies and a deck of cards. Where he'd gotten him, I'm not sure I want to know.

I had been heading across the plane to talk to Max, see how she was holding up, and now I glanced over. She was on a couch, talking to Nudge and some guy pushing a cart full of soda. She looked fine, so I turned back to Gazzy and nodded. "Sure."

We sat down on two couches on either side of a coffee table, the way it was set up where Max and Nudge were sitting. Gazzy didn't actually know how to play, so I dealt out the cards and chips, and we began.

We played for a few minutes in silence, except for the Gasman's victory cries whenever he won a hand, and my grunts of acknowledgement when I did. Once, as he dragged some pennies toward him after winning, though, Gazzy said, "Fang?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure Max is okay?" I had been sifting through my cards, and now I raised my head to look at his wide, worried blue eyes. "I mean, she was crying a lot."

I glanced at her and Nudge. They were leaning over the table between them, concentrating on something. "She's fine."

"Will she start crying again?"

I looked him in the eyes. "Don't worry about it. If she does, I'll take care of her."

The Gasman seemed satisfied, and I looked behind me again, just in time to see a can of soda slide across the coffee table towards Nudge. Raising my eyebrows, I tilted my head in that direction and said, "Let's go see what those two are up to."

Leaving our poker stuff on the table, we stood up and walked across the plane. I sat down right next to Max, my hand accidentally-on-purpose brushing her knee, and Gazzy sat with Nudge, across from us.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I'm Magnet Girl!" Nudge exclaimed gleefully.

Okay, then. I picked a metal pen up off the coffee table and touched it to Nudge's forearm. After I let go, it fell.

As she bent to retrieve it, though, it flew right into her outstretched hand.

"You're _kind of _magnetic. Cool!" the Gasman said with a whistle.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "No, that's not it. It's that you can _attract_ metal-- maybe only when you want to."

We found some more metal objects on the plane and had Nudge reach for them. They flew right at her every time her hand got within six inches. We were still messing with it when Jeb strode over.

"What's going on?" he asked, noticing that we all stiffened at his appearance.

"I can make metal come to me!" Nudge said. Beside me, Max gave a little sigh, and I knew she would rather us keep this information to ourselves.

Jeb sank into one of the nice leather chairs, and Nudge reached for the pen, holding up her clenched fist in triumph when it came.

"I don't know why you can do that," he said, furrowing his brow. "As far as I know, it was never programmed in." Now he glanced at the four of us. When his gaze lingered on Max, I placed my hand lightly on the small of her back, preparing to kick some traitor butt. Seeing this, Jeb quickly looked elsewhere and finished, "It's possible… It's possible that maybe you guys are starting to mutate on your own."

Whoa.

I thought about how I didn't have any skills like Max's super speed or Angel's mind-reading. Maybe I was about to mutate, too.

**Hope you liked this… if you haven't noticed I'm trying to make up for the low amount of Fax in the actual book by inserting it whenever possible. Next chapter, there's even more of this.**

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	6. Chapter 6

**Alrighty, guys. This is Fang's Blog in the real book, so this is totally made up. They're still on the plane, headed to D.C. Hope it doesn't stink on ice.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

After Jeb walked off to let us digest his latest bombshell, Nudge and the Gasman decided to go finish the poker game, and it was just me and Max as the plane began to descend into D.C.

"How about that?" she asked, trying to be subtle about moving a couple inches away from me. "I wonder what other things are gonna pop up?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? Ability to communicate with actual birds? Beaks? Third wings?"

Max laughed. "Well, that would make more sense than mind-reading and mimicry."

A comfortable silence fell over us. I stared out the window for a minute, watching the puffy white clouds passing under us. I could see the skyline of the city begin to appear.

A soft, almost inaudible sigh interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to see that Max had her head leaned back, eyes shut. I hesitated only a second before nudging her.

"You okay?" I asked as her eyes fluttered open.

She sagged back into the couch and sighed again, this one louder. "Yeah."

"Max." I waited until she looked at me. "Come on. I know you."

Narrowing her eyes, she snapped, "I said I'm _fine_, Fang." Then she looked down at her lap.

I reached over and tilted Max's chin up so she had no choice but to look at me. Up close, I could see that her eyes were still a little red. "You can talk to me, Max," I whispered, and even let a little emotion show in my eyes. Anything to get her to see that I really was there for her, and I was sorry for leaving, and I was her best friend, the one she could trust. Just like always.

She stared into my gaze, surprised, I suppose, at what she saw there. And then: "It's just… Ari was my brother. The flock may be my real family, that I'm close to, but we shared human blood. And… I _killed_ him."

"He came back," I said.

"It doesn't matter. He was still my brother, and I still killed him."

I realized that I was slowly stroking her jaw with my thumb, but was too distracted by the current conversation to process it. "Max, you didn't mean to," I murmured, leaning down a little. Her eyes widened the slightest bit, and then more as I moved the hand that was cupping her chin so it was cupping her cheek instead.

Max jumped up. "I, um-- I'm going to, um, check on Angel. She was, um, sleepy… yeah," she rambled, and then walked quickly across the jet. As I watched, though, she didn't go to where Angel and Total were sleeping. Instead, she rested her forehead on the window and watched the ground below.

I sighed and lay back on the couch. Why wouldn't she just let me help her? Had I not made it obvious I'd do anything for her?

Oh well. I was sick of thinking about it for now, so I closed my eyes and started planning out my next blog post.

**Poor Fang. Fang, if you ever get tired of waiting for Max, I'm here. : D**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride!**

It was later, and we were in the safe house Max's mom and Jeb had provided for us. I had already been in and out of the shower, put on the nice, clean clothes we'd been given-- mine were still black, thankfully-- and now wet pieces of shaggy black hair were sticking to my forehead.

I walked to the front window, moving the curtain aside and peering out at the street. My thoughts, as always, drifted to Max and what had happened between us on the plane earlier.

She'd gotten up and run off before I'd even kissed her. The way I'd held her cheek and leaned in slowly had scared her off. Just like last time when I rubbed her back and stroked her hair before "helping her change her mind."

Boy, did that go well.

She loved me, too, I was ninety-nine percent sure. I mean, she had kissed me on instinct and said she loved me, needed me to hold her hand, while under drugs. It was there, just tucked away in some place she could only reach at the worst possible moments.

And so I'd made it my own personal mission to find it for her. Let her know that it was okay to let herself be vulnerable, that love was a _good_ thing, that what we had couldn't be broken. Hell, four days apart and we were nearly in tears when we reunited. If that wasn't a sign, then I didn't know what was.

"Anything going on out there?"

Speak of the devil. Or, in this case, angel.

I glanced over at Max and shook my head. Then, my brain registered that something was different, and I looked at her again.

The first thing I noticed was that her skin was paler than usual, and it was-- tell anybody I used this word and you will be in trouble-- glowing.

"What happened to your tan?" I asked.

"It was dirt," she told me.

I grinned as I took in the rest of her appearance. She was wearing a light blue shirt and jeans-- both clean, both nice. Her hair was brushed, and I wondered if it was as soft and silky as it looked.

Having a stupid moment, I lightly ran a finger across her shoulder, through the hair resting there. All this time, I'd thought of her as nothing but Max, my best friend and the one who meant the most. But now, she looked good. Like… like a…

"You look… like a girl," I said out loud, still trying to wrap my mind around this.

"There's a reason for that," Max said, her eyebrows shooting up. She didn't get it.

"No, I mean like a real--" I tried to explain, but realized I couldn't put my thoughts into words that would sound quite right. Hoping she'd catch the hint and drop it, I shook my head and turned away.

Being Max, of course, she didn't. "Like a real what?"

I went through possible responses, but Nudge saved me. "Ooh, Max, you look great! That top is totally hot! You look like you're at least sixteen!"

I couldn't help looking at her again. Man, she really did look amazing. I bet if we were normal human kids, and she was at a real school, boys would be throwing themselves at her right and left.

_Sam sure did, _I thought to myself, and internally gagged. That whole thing with Sam still made my stomach churn. Why was she so willing to kiss somebody who barely knew her but not the person who knew her best? How did that work?

_She's afraid, Fang_, Angel said in my head. _Losing Sam wouldn't have mattered to her. Losing you tore her apart_

_She could never lose me_, I thought back sourly. _I promised, didn't I?_

_Maybe you should _show_ her._

I looked over my shoulder at Angel, sitting on one of the couches in the living room. She nodded and winked.

_Yeah_, I told her. _I think I will._

**This chapter, I found kind of hard to write, the "you look like a girl" thing. But… I think I did okay.**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, guys. If you don't read Sick Days… go read it! Just kidding. Well, actually, it'd be nice if you read it, but the point is that Sick Days has been my main story, and it is coming to an end soon. So updates on this story will hopefully become more frequent, with that out of the way. Yep, so there's the 411 on that.**

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Maximum Ride, and I highly doubt I ever will.**

"Welcome. Thank you for coming."

Some government guy walked up to us and shook the hands of Jeb, Dr. Martinez, and then the flock. When he shook mine, he looked at me with friendly eyes. I held them in a serious gaze, letting him know that he wouldn't be pulling any crap over on us today.

"Please sit down. Would you care for something to drink? We have coffee, tea, soda, ice water… Oh, and I see you brought your dog. A cute little Scottie."

I raised an eyebrow as I sunk into a chair between Max and Iggy. _A cute little Scottie_? Look who's sucking up to the mutants.

Shades slid down over the windows, and the lights slowly went out. My hands instinctively curled into fists, and I glanced over at Max, obviously feeling the same way. Nothing jumped out from the walls to attack us, though, and I slowly relaxed.

The amount of footage these creeps had on us was disturbing. We really hadn't been lying as low as we'd thought. They had battle after battle, flight after flight, even video of us doing nothing but sitting at the traitor Anne's house. When the latter came on the screen, Max tensed beside me, and I squeezed her knee reassuringly, just for a second.

The hardest thing to watch was the stuff from Germany. There was Max's fight against some creature, and then Ari dying in her arms. I set my jaw as I watched. I should have been there, helping them. Her.

When it was finally over and the lights came back on, a woman stood up from her seat and reached for the water pitcher. "You six are most impressive."

A man, different from the one who'd greeted us earlier, said, "We've asked you to come here today because we're very interested in your future. We-- the American government, that is-- didn't know of your existence until quite recently. Now that we know, we want to protect you and also explore whether we can be useful to each other."

Yeah, I'm sure they're real concerned with making this a win-win situation. Not one-sided at _all_. I shot a sideways glance at Max, and could practically hear the wheels in her brain turning as she thought through possible ways we were being trapped.

A woman, maybe thirty years old, jumped in, and I had a fleeting thought that she was pretty hot. Then I had to suppress a smirk as I thought about how Max would call me a sexist pig if I'd said that aloud. "One way _we_ could be useful to _you_ would be for us to create a school, a place where you could live safely. You're very gifted at survival, but there are significant gaps in your education. We could fill in those gaps, help you realize your full potential."

They all looked at us, waiting for a response. Beside me, Max sat up a little straighter. "To what end?"

The blonde, surprised, looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"What would you guys get out of it? Besides the sheer joy of helping us fulfill our potential," she added sarcastically.

Another man who hadn't spoken yet answered her. "We would get to study you, frankly. You're like nothing we've ever seen before. The idea that human children can actually fly is mind-blowing. While you're at the school, we could study you, understand the physical changes that enable you to fly."

_Yeah_, I thought. _That's gonna go over well_. From a few seats away, Angel giggled as she heard this.

"To what end?" Max snapped. "So that you can make more of us?"

"No," the guy said slowly. "Just… to understand."

Her face softened, just for a second. And then: "Okay, say you get to study us. Somehow you get us to believe that it wouldn't be a _complete nightmare_ for us to be hooked up to sensors while we run on treadmills, or to hold our own in wind tunnels while you film us flying. Then what?"

I bit back a smirk.

Just like that, Max, _my_ Max, had stunned the leaders of the free world into silence.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

When the government people finally recovered from being burned to the Max, a general wrinkled his brow and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what _else_?" Max replied. "You study us; you get the warm fuzzies from helping us with all that potential we have lying around. What else do you want from us?"

The general was definitely not amused. "What makes you think there would be something else?"

"Um, because I'm not a complete moron?" She crossed her arms over her chest, scooting forward in her chair a little more. "Because no grown-up has ever been completely straight with us? Because I don't believe for one second that you're giving us the whole story. I don't believe for _one second_ that all you want is to study us. You know and I know that you've got ulterior motives up that crisply starched sleeve. The only question is, when are you gonna show us what they are?"

I bit my lip to keep from busting out laughing as silence fell in the room again. Then I saw Max turning to look around at the flock, and I quickly put on my alert face. She surveyed us all for a long moment, then met the general's eyes again. "Any other questions?"

"Why wouldn't you want our protection?" The woman who spoke was staring at us, confused. I'm guessing that's not the ideal way to ask such a question.

"Because it comes with a price, with strings," Max told her with a slight shrug of one shoulder. She did that sometimes, and I don't think she realized it. It was really cute, though. "The price is too high, and the strings are too tight."

"You're children," someone else said. "Don't you want a home, a family?"

"With, like, vitamin-fortified cereal and educational television?" Max asked in mock awe. Then she narrowed her eyes and went on, "You didn't offer us a home and a family. You offered us a school, where we could be studied. Next question."

Honestly, I was getting bored. It was pretty obvious who had the upper hand here. But the blonde woman from earlier, who I now found annoying and no longer hot, was persistent. "It would be patriotic of you to help your country."

"And it would be nice if the Easter Bunny were real," Max replied. "But it's interesting that you've gone from wanting to study us to wanting us to help our country. Next question."

_Schooled_, I thought smugly, and saw the government people bristle, knowing they'd just been caught red-handed.

"Frankly, we consider you a national resource," a uniformed woman tried to cover. "A national treasure, if you will. Like the Declaration of Independence."

Max sighed, exasperated. "Which is kept in a sealed display case under lock and key, with armed guards. No, thanks. Anyone else?"

I wished the best of luck to anybody who tried to get something through her thick skull at this point. Trust me, I'd had enough experience to know it was a nearly impossible feat. But the general gave it another shot. "The fact remains that you are minors, and as such must be under adult supervision and guardianship, according to state law. We're offering you such guardianship with a great many benefits and privileges. There could be many less-attractive options." He seemed to think he had us there. Wrong.

Max blinked, stared, and leaned forward in a way that I knew meant she was about to really let him have it. "You're _kidding_. We've escaped from top-security prisons, lived through mental and physical torture, lived on our own for years, made tons of smarty-pants grown-ups look like fools without even trying, eaten desert rats with no Al steak sauce, and you're telling me we're minors and have to have guardians? Listen, pal, I grew up in a freaking dog crate. I've seen horrible part-human mutations die gut-wrenching deaths. I've had people, mutants, and robots trying to kill me twenty-four/seven for as long as I can remember, and you think I'm gonna cave to state law? Are you bonkers?"

Finally, they had no comeback.

The first man we'd met cleared his throat, obviously wondering what to do now, and said, "Well, perhaps we should take a break and meet again tomorrow."

I inwardly chuckled. American government: 0. Mutant freaks: 1.

**You know the deal… little green button!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I have boring Author's Notes… other people have conversations with characters and I'm just like, hi, what's up, here's my chapter…**

**Oh, but today I do have something to say to a reviewer, Zeze-- Thanks for the suggestion; those are always appreciated, really. I'd rather stick with these shorter chapters in order to update more often. Plus… I have this OCD matching thing, and combining the chapters when I've already posted nine short ones would make me, like, uncomfortable with the way the whole story was posted. So… I'm gonna stick with this. But again, thanks for suggesting it-- I really do appreciate those. : )**

**Alright, here we go. Iggy gets powers. Drum roll, please.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

After we ordered our pizza that night and were lounging around the connected living room and kitchen, Max said, "So, this whole government-control thing isn't working for me."

_Yeah_, I thought. _We're all aware_.

Dr. Martinez looked torn. "I'd feel better if you were being protected somehow."

"Their protection never _lasts_," the Gasman said. "It turns into something else. Like a trap, or a nightmare, or an experiment."

I was just thinking how an eight-year old shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that, shouldn't be so serious, when he tacked on, "Did I remember to order extra pineapple?" Everyone nodded.

Nudge looked away from the TV for the first time since we got back to the safe house. "I don't want to go to school. Unless it's, like, fashion school or music school, like how to be a rock star. But math class every day? And spelling? Bleah."

"I don't think those people really know what they want," Angel chimed in.

"Did we remember to get garlic bread?" Total said suddenly. Everybody nodded again.

Max turned back to Angel. "But you're not picking up out-and-out evil?"

"No," she replied as she petted Total. "I can feel secrets, and confusion. But no mad-scientist stuff."

"Something new and different," Iggy said dryly.

Standing at the head of the table Iggy, Gazzy and I were sitting at, Jeb asked, "Anyone want refills on lemonade?"

"I do," Gazzy said, and for just a second it felt like we were at the old house again, when Jeb was the bad guy gone good and we weren't on the run. Then, when Iggy said, "No, the blue one's mine," and I realized he shouldn't know what colors the cups were, the feeling was gone.

There was a long pause while Iggy took a drink from the blue cup. Max finally broke it. "Which blue cup, Ig?" she asked calmly, getting up from the chair in the living room and making her way over to our table. "Light or dark?"

"Light."

There was another pause, and then Iggy caught on. "Huh," he said. "Did you guys tell me what colors the cups were?"

"Nope," Max said softly, doing that little shoulder shrug thing again.

He looked down at the table, slightly wiggling the fingers that lay there. "I'm still-- I still can't see squat. No vision. Nothing." He wrapped his hand around the cup again. "But this cup is blue."

Gazzy pushed over his cup. "What's this one?"

Iggy felt it. "Yellow?"

"Yeah," I said, reaching for the pizza menu beside me. "How about this?" I put it in Iggy's outstretched palm. "What color is it?"

"Green?" he guessed. "It feels green."

_Another mutation_, I thought, watching as Nudge tested hers out on a fork. I stood up, placing my hand on my hips, and asked, mock-scolding, "Have you guys been playing in toxic waste again?"

Nudge giggled, still holding the fork. "No."

"Been bitten by a radioactive spider?" I continued. "Struck by lightning? Drink a super-soldier serum?"

"No, no, no," Iggy told me, reaching down by his feet, laying a hand on Total's back. "You're black."

"I prefer canine-American," Total sniffed. "When's that pie coming? I'm starving."

"What about me?" Nudge trotted up to Iggy and took his hand, putting it on her cheek.

"You're sort of a chocolate-milk-slash-coffee color," he said with a smile, and I smirked. Blind pyro in love? Hmm…

"Like, mocha," Gazzy put in.

Again I wondered if I would finally get a skill, like the others. I was now the only one without one of my own. Maybe I'd get the power to make people fall madly in love with me, I thought as I watched Max from across the room.

I'd need that power tonight.

**Review?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hopefully I can start updating this story daily now. I think I'm far enough ahead to do that. Either way, it'll be frequent.**

**This is the chapter where the pizza blows up, and I've totally stretched the Faxness to the Maximum (haha… okay, sorry, that was cheesy). There's stuff that probably didn't really happen, but there's also more detail… like, there was one sentence about it in the book, and I'm like, he's _protecting_ you, it's so sweet, how are you barely noticing this?**

**Done ranting.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride!**

When the pizza guy came, the flock hid while Jeb paid him. Iggy and I moved around a corner, and while we were waiting, backs pressed against the wall, he whispered, "Fang?"

"What?" I looked at him; he was touching his upper lip.

"Do I have a mustache at all? Like, even the beginning of one?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, no, Ig. You don't."

"Crap," he muttered. "Max was right."

Alright… I heard the front door lock, and I immediately came out from my hiding place, grabbing Iggy's elbow and taking him with me. The rest of the flock immediately headed towards the kitchen table, Nudge chanting, "Yes, yes, yes."

Dr. Martinez put down the stack of pizzas with an "oof" and opened the one on top. "Who got the extra pepperoni and mushroom?"

"Me, me!" Max called, appearing at her mother's side. She looked positively giddy, really young; I fought a smile.

As Dr. Martinez reached into the box, a wide-eyed Gasman suddenly snapped out his arm and grabbed hers. "Wait!"

"Get away from that pizza!" Max said, whisking it away from him. "Yours is probably next."

The Gasman pointed frantically at the pizza box. "No! Look!"

I squinted from a few feet away and saw a piece of wire poking out from under the crust. I lifted my eyes to her face and saw the realization fall across it. "Take cover!" she yelled.

In the next half-second, as I realized that the pizza was about to explode and that it was in Max's hands, this is what was in my mind:

_Crap. Max. Max. Crap._

I launched myself at her, knocking the pizza out of her hands and dragging her behind the couch in the living room. One arm wound around her middle, holding her tightly to me, while the other covered her face. She was sandwiched between me and the floor, my body covering all of hers. Anything that fell would have hit me, no question, but I didn't care. All that mattered to me was that Max was safe.

Silence filled the room, and everything was still for a moment more. My heart was still pounding as I thought about how Max had been holding that explosive in her hands… it'd been _that close_…

"You okay?" I asked her, resting my forehead on the back of her head. She squirmed under me, and I climbed off of her. Nodding quickly, she stood up and called, "Report!"

Immediately she started coughing, doubled over, tears coming to her eyes. I moved over to her and thumped her back with one hand, rubbing her arm with the other. Even though she was still coughing, she waved me off and staggered away.

I watched, standing there beside the couch, as she checked up on the flock. Leader Max, just like always. She was taking care of the others, too busy with that to let me help her. How could it be that I was freaking out inside when I realized she was in danger, and she didn't even see it? How could I have just risked injury to myself as I tried to protect her, and she thought nothing of it? Was it so hard for her to get through her thick skull that someone _really_ cared about her?

I shook my head and looked at the floor. Why did I even bother?

_Because you love her, remember?_ Angel said in my head.

I sighed. Oh, yeah. That.

**Two chapters to the kiss! Yay!**

**Review, please?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Tired. Not gonna write a real A/N. Uh… Fang not in Chapter 12 in the book. Made up scene. Enjoy.**

We left the safe house and found a small motel just off the highway. Dr. Martinez rented a room for her and the girls, and Jeb rented one for he, Iggy, the Gasman and I. Once we had split into our respective rooms and Jeb was in the shower, I went over to where Iggy and Gazzy were sitting on a bed and said, "Ig, come here."

He rolled his sightless eyes and got up, and I led him across the room so that Gazzy couldn't hear us.

"I'm going to leave about eleven," I said in a low voice, casting a sideways glance at Gazzy. He seemed immersed in a TV show, completely oblivious to us. Satisfied, I continued on. "I'll wake you up, and I need you to be on watch until I come back."

"Max told us there's no reason to be on watch," Iggy said, like I knew he would.

I took a deep breath. The night before, I agreed with Max that we shouldn't bother with watch, but tonight we'd been threatened again. After seeing her so close to becoming Max popcorn, I'd decided that I'd be staying up for watch. Nothing was going to happen to her, or the others, because we were all _asleep_. Except that this decision happened to come on the night I would try to get through to Max again, and if I blew that off, I knew I might not find the courage to do it in the future.

"I think somebody should be on watch," I said firmly. "Max doesn't need to know."

Iggy sighed. "Fine. And _why_ am I doing this? Where are _you_ going?"

"Just for a fly."

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Romeo."

I felt my face get red, just a little, and I stared at him. As if sensing this, Iggy said, "Angel told me."

I grunted in frustration. That kid sure knew how to mind-read and tell.

"Calm down," Iggy said. "I asked her if something was going on with you two."

"Why would you think that?" I asked too quickly.

"'I _promise_ not to leave you, Max," he said in an overly mushy voice that I did _not_ use, nor will I ever. "I won't. I _won't_. Not _ever_."

Scowling, I started to walk off, punching him in the shoulder on my way. "Shut up."

**Big kiss next chapter! Review this one, please?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here it is, guys. It's long. It's detailed. It's…**

**THE KISS.**

**Dun, dun, dun…**

**Hope I did it good!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride!**

At a little past eleven, I crept out of my bed, made sure Jeb was asleep, and then walked quietly over to Iggy's bed. I shook his shoulder, and he immediately sat up silently, trained to do so from our time on the run.

"Got get 'em, lover boy," he whispered as I grabbed the girls' spare room key off our table. I shot him the bird, not that he could see it, and stepped into the hallway, closing the door softly behind me.

I went into the girls' room and, with my raptor vision, easily navigated through it to Max's bed. For a moment, I just stood there and took her in: blonde hair spread out on the pillow, her face relaxed and peaceful for the first time in who-knows-how-long, the way her long eyelashes rested on her cheeks.

I reached out and picked up a loose piece of hair that was laying across her face, twisting it around my finger. The movement made her shift, and I quickly withdrew my hand. "Yo, Max."

Max shot up, looking around frantically. "Wha'? What's, what's--"

"Let's take a little spin," I said, motioning toward the window.

She looked at it, then around the room, still trying to get her bearings. Then she glanced back at me, looking frazzled and, yes, beautiful. "Why?"

I grinned at her, and her face softened, her cheeks turning rosy. "Because we can."

Max grinned back and stood up, and I climbed out the window so she could get dressed. I sprinted across the parking lot, unfurled my wings, and took off.

It was only a couple of minutes before I looked down and saw Max rising quickly, coming toward me. As she reached me, I smiled a little, able to see so clearly in her face the joy that flying gave her. I knew, because it was exactly what I was feeling, too.

We didn't say anything as we continued to fly, but we didn't need to. Just being there was enough for us. This was the way it was supposed to be: Max and I, getting away from our bird kid troubles and government people trying to control us. Together.

After a while, I saw the ocean and a deserted dock over it. I cocked my head toward it, and Max wordlessly started to swoop lower. I followed, and after we made a running stop on the dock, we sat on the edge with our feet dangling over it. One of my wings rested over one of Max's, and being in such close proximity to her sent a shiver up my spine.

"This is pretty." She broke the silence, gazing at the endless stretch of water.

"Yeah. Peaceful." _Here goes nothing, _I thought. If I looked at Max, I'd chicken out, so I looked at our feet. "Are we back on track?"

She looked at me, but I kept my head down. "What do you mean? What track?"

_Our friendship that was almost ruined, what else? _"You and me. We… broke up."

Max looked away, so now we were both looking at the water like a couple of socially repressed teenagers who had trouble sharing emotion of any kind. Which, I guess, is what we were.

I waited for her to say something, but she didn't, so I continued. "I don't want to split up again."

"No, me neither," she said quickly.

"Max…"

That was when I should have just said it, spit it out. Three words. _I. Love. You._ But then I looked up into her face, and I couldn't. It had hurt when she ran after I kissed her; a declaration like that is about ten times more serious. So instead of spilling my feelings, I decided to try and get in touch with hers. "What do you want from me?"

I really did want to know, and it was a simple enough question, right? But being Max, she had to be difficult and say, "What do I-- What do you mean? I want the usual stuff, like always."

Meaning right-wing man, best friend. That wasn't all. I knew it wasn't. A few months ago, maybe I could have taken her hint and left her alone. But after the cave, and splitting up, realizing how much I need her… no. I _was not_ letting this go.

I looked her right in the eyes. "Look, you didn't like it when you saw me with that girl at school, back in Virginia."

Another pause. I inwardly sighed. "And I wasn't thrilled about you and Sam, the possible traitor, also back in Virginia." _Wasn't thrilled_. Understatement of the year.

"Yeah, Virginia basically sucked," Max said, trying to avoid the point. Her cheeks were flushed, from this conversation or from the flight I didn't know which, and some hair was falling in front of her eye. I wanted to brush it away so I could see the deep brown, but made myself keep my hand in my lap.

"Well, why?" I pressed. "Why would it bother us to see us with other people?"

Her breath hitched in her throat, her jaw tightening, and she got a look on her face that was desperate, puzzled, and stressed. I searched it, but I saw not one sliver of love, and my heart dropped. Why couldn't she figure out that she _did_ care about me? It was there. I _knew_ it was there.

"'Cause we're shallow and self-serving?" Max asked, still avoiding my gaze. Okay. She didn't want to talk about feelings, we wouldn't talk about feelings. I could work with this.

I rolled my eyes at her last comment and reached over, lacing my fingers through hers. I placed our hands in my lap, and she stared at them in wonder, maybe a hint of realization in her face. She said nothing, but she didn't pull away, either.

So far, so good.

"You're…" I trailed off, and her wide eyes flicked to my face, anxious as they awaited the end of my sentence. What, so now she _did_ want to know how I felt about her? Did she want to discuss this or not? She was… "Such a _pain_."

"_What_?" she asked incredulously, but rather than answering I closed the distance between us. Her lips moved-- not in a kissing-me-back way, unfortunately, but in a trying-to-talk way-- so I put my free hand on the back of her head, slipping my fingers into her soft hair. She still wasn't responding, so I put a little bit of my determination to make her mine into the kiss, but kept it soft and sweet.

I tilted my head to deepen our kiss, hoping to trigger a reaction, and I got one. Sliding her arms around my neck, Max started kissing back, just a little, but it was something. I moved the hand on her head down to her upper back and gently pulled the other from her grip, placing it on her waist. Our lips were moving together now, still slow and innocent **(A/N: Yeah, I don't do French…)**, and it felt _amazing_. If I'd ever had any doubt we were meant to be, it had now flown out the window. This was _right_.

I could feel her heart racing against mine as I pulled her ever closer, sliding one hand under her outstretched wing and the other around her shoulders. I never wanted this to end.

Spoke too soon.

As if coming to her senses, Max's eyes sprang open, and she took her lips off mine, then wrenched out of my arms. "I, uh--" she stuttered, and then leaped up. I watched her sprint down the dock and take off, flying off. My eyes followed her until her powerful wings carried her out of sight, and then I looked into my lap. I thought I'd gotten through to her. I thought we could finally end this tension and accept our feelings for each other. I guess I was wrong.

There was a burning sensation in the backs of my eyes, and I swallowed hard. _Cut it out, man,_ I told myself, and instead resorted to violence, punching the dock beneath me as hard as I could. My strength made it vibrate, and I sighed heavily and lay back, folding my hands over my stomach. Two minutes earlier, I'd been the happiest I'd ever been. And now, I felt just the opposite.

It was getting late, so I made myself stand up and prepare to head back to the hotel. Before I took my running start, though, I stood on the dock and looked in the direction Max had taken off in.

"I love you," I whispered to the empty night, and then broke into a sprint.

**Wow. This is the longest chapter I've written for this story so far. I feel wiped, haha. Review, review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks for all who read and/or reviewed last chapter! I was amazed that some people said it made them so sad-- made me feel good! Glad you all liked it!**

**Here's this… almost as long as the last chapter! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I think we've established by now that I don't own Maximum Ride, but I don't want to get sued, so I continue to put this up.**

When I got back to our hotel room, Iggy was still waiting up. As he heard me come in, shutting the window softly behind me, he whispered, "How'd it go?"

I said nothing and crossed the room to my bed. As I crawled under the covers, he asked, "Fang?"

I turned on my side and stared at the plain white wall. I couldn't shake the feeling of Max's mouth on mine, her arms around me. It was like it was still happening, except that she wasn't here with me. "Go to sleep, Ig," I said quietly, barely moving my mouth. He understood, and I heard his mattress creak. Knowing I wouldn't be able to rest, I sat up and leaned back on my headboard. "I'll keep watch."

It was a long night. My thoughts were on Max and nothing else. Not for the first time, I wished I didn't love her like this. Wished it was something else that made me so happy, instead of something that I couldn't have.

Finally, I heard Dr. Martinez talking in the girls' room, and I got up to wake Iggy, then Gazzy, then Jeb. Standing over him and saying, "Hey, Jeb. Time to get up," felt so weird, as I remembered all the mornings Max had made me help her wake him up at the E-house-- even though I'd only stood by while she jumped on his bed.

The girls came over to about twenty minutes later, dressed and asking if we wanted to join them at IHOP. While we walked over there, and then while we ate, Max and I were intentionally avoiding each other's eye. Still, I couldn't help staring at her mouth, thinking about how only hours before, it had been on mine.

Man, I just wanted her out of my head. Why'd I have to go and fall for my best friend? _Stupid_, I thought. _Stupid. Stupid._

Angel gazed at me with her huge blue eyes. _Fang, you're not stupid._

I ducked my head, staring down at my _She doesn't think of me as anything more than a friend. And I've probably messed that up now, too._

_Max realized something last night_, she thought back. _While you were kissing her._

I resisted the urge to snort out loud. _What, that she hates my guts?_

_No. She loves you._

My head snapped up, and Angel and I stared at each other from across the table. I couldn't think. This made no sense. _What? _I thought dumbly.

_Max loves you. _Angel nodded at me. _She realized she loved you, and it scared her, and that's why she flew away._

I paused mid-chew. Geez. She was so used to devoting everything to the flock that she couldn't give herself one thing, one thing that made her feel good. I loved her and apparently she loved me and two halves make a whole; what was so hard about this?

_I think you should give her time to get used to the idea, _Angel thought, well, thoughtfully. Oh, good, I was getting love advice from a six-year-old. _A six-year-old who knows what's going on in your wannabe girlfriend's head._

I looked at Angel for a moment, and then my mouth quirked up. _Yeah. Thanks for that._

0000000000

Much to Max's dismay, we ended up going back to the Capitol Building for our other meeting. This time, I didn't sit beside her. Instead, I sat next to Angel, keeping myself busy by leading Iggy to his seat. As I sunk into mine, I couldn't help glancing over at Max. She looked determined, like no way in hell were these people getting the better of her. Her hair was a little messy, and I thought again how just last night, I'd been feeling the silkiness of it--

_Meeting, Fang, _I told myself. _Forget Max right now. Meeting._

I made myself watch as some old guy with a smile on his face started off the meeting by announcing, "We have some exciting news. We've been allocated the funds to create a special school for you. The location hasn't been decided yet. Nor has it been decided whether you will be mainstreamed with other children." His smile widened, if that was possible. I wasn't buying it.

"Uh-huh," Max said sarcastically. Apparently she wasn't either.

Dr. Martinez stepped in, rather than having Max go off on America's leaders again. "I'm still unclear why the children can't just live in peace somewhere, in hiding."

Yeah. Tell it like it is, Dr. M.

"Well," a woman said, "you see, Ms. Martinez."

"Doctor," she interrupted, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Dr. Martinez."

"Ah, yes." The woman smiled politely. "Dr. Martinez."

Dr. Martinez kept going. "Like in the witness protection program. The government spends millions of dollars, so much time and energy, protecting witnesses who are often criminals themselves. Why can't you make the same effort to protect innocent children?"

Really, I'd rather take the flock and my Max and fly off to find another place to hide out in the mountains. But we were currently going along with these adults, so I stayed put. For the moment.

A second woman, older than the first, leaned toward us from across the table. "The witness protection program is limited in its scope and not intended to create a suitable environment for children. Which is why we were thinking more of a boarding-school situation, with appropriate guardians and teachers."

Boarding school? No. No, no, no.

The woman smiled, but it was forced. Totally phony. "It will be a most desirable situation, I assure you."

Jeb stepped in then. I half-expected Max to, but she was just watching everything warily. "We're not convinced that you understand the nature of these children. We're not sure why you believe yourselves to be the best judges of what would be best for them."

A woman who hadn't spoken yet raised her eyebrows. "None of us have been associated, however peripherally, with Itex or its various research branches." Jeb slunk back slightly at the words. "But we've made an extensive study of the situation, of the children, and of various rehabilitation systems that might be applicable here. Many of us are parents ourselves."

_Rehab_? What were these people smoking? At this point I wanted to bust out of here so bad my wings were twitching. I fought to keep them from bursting out of the slits in my shirt.

"But you're not _their_ parents," Dr. Martinez told the woman incredulously.

"With all due respect, Dr. Martinez, neither are you, nor is Jeb Batchelder," another old guy said. "We understand the genetic component, as it's been explained to us. But the fact remains that these children have essentially grown up without any adult who could realistically be called a parental figure."

Enough of this. It was time to put all these adults in their place.

My eyes shifted to Max. She looked completely on guard, and completely pissed off. When she looked at me and met my eyes, she gave a small nod, letting me know that she was going to take care of it.

Turning away from me, she raised her hand, and the adults stared, surprised. She cleared her throat. "I need to say something."

As she took control, I relaxed considerably and sat back in my chair. This should be good.

**Reviewing helps me get better!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey, guys. I've fallen into a good rhythm of posting once a day, so I'm just posting real quick before church. Enjoy!**

"You guys are talking about us like we're not even here," Max told the room of stunned government people. You're sitting there deciding our fate without even asking us."

"Maximum," began the cheery senator from earlier, and I couldn't help but hate the way he said her name. Like he was trying to convince a three-year-old to share their candy. Max was definitely _not_ stupid, and would _not_ fall victim to sweet-talking.

_Bet you'd like her to fall victim to yours_, Angel said in my head.

_Shut up_, I replied, and she giggled.

"…best for them. Children just don't have the life experience or education to understand the big picture."

Iggy tensed beside me, and I looked over at Max. She was incredibly pissed. Which she should be. This guy was going to lecture us on not having _life experience_? Someone didn't do their Bird Kid Interrogation Homework.

"Life experience?" Max asked, visibly restraining herself from hurting the guy. "Big picture? I've had more life experience in fourteen years than you've had in-- what are you, like, a hundred?"

The senator flushed and looked down.

"You're the ones who don't have the life experience," she went on relentlessly. "Have you ever woken up with your mouth duct-taped shut, not knowing where you are or where your family is? Are you afraid of everything and everyone? Have you foraged for food in Dumpsters? Do you sleep with one eye open because at any second someone might try to kill you?" Yes on all counts. "Have you ever opened a _pizza_ box only to find a _bomb_?" Have you ever watched the love of your life almost die because of a bomb in a pizza box? "You guys don't have any _idea_."

Jaws dropped, glances were exchanged, two Secret Service agents tensed as if anticipating action. I tried to catch Max's eye and alert her of this, but she was on a roll and wasn't slowing down now. "Angel's only six. But ten bucks says she's been in more fights to the death than any of you. You guys have unreal ideas about us that you _wish_ were true. The kids you designed this school for are probably clean, polite, grateful, agreeable. Sadly, that isn't _us_."

Enough of this. I tapped the back of Iggy's hand, and we both stood up. Reading my thoughts, Angel stood, and Nudge and the Gasman quickly followed. Max stayed seated, not quite done. I fixed a deathly cold gaze on the government people as she picked up again. "We don't need to be 'rehabilitated'. We're survivors, and that pretty much cancels out good manners or patience or a burning desire to please. Your fancy school, your plans-- none of that has anything to do with us, the real us. You go on and have fun spinning your wheels. But include us _out_."

With that, she stood up and stormed out of the conference room, the younger kids following loyally, Total trotting at Angel's heels. I tapped Iggy's hand again, and we strode behind them, Dr. Martinez and Jeb bringing up the rear. Max crossed the hallway and entered another huge conference room with a bunch of windows wide open.

Making one of her snap decisions, she quickly hugged her mom, threw on her jacket, and leaped out the window, unfurling her wings. I nodded at Dr. Martinez and Jeb, scooped up Total, and followed her, feeling so much better out here in the open sky than in that conference room with people who thought they knew us.

As I caught up to Max, I saw that she had a smile on her face, the genuinely happy kind I rarely got to see from her, as she gulped in breaths of fresh air.

Suddenly, I didn't mind the meetings so much. I got to see Max smile. That would make _anything_ worth it.

**Aww. Fang, you're so sweet. : )**

**Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

After we'd been flying a few minutes, Gazzy pointed and yelled, "Look, the Pentagon!" I followed his finger. From up here, it actually looked pretty cool.

"Me too!" Iggy said, following Gazzy in the direction of the building. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, you can touch it and feel that it's white," Max called sarcastically after them, angling her wings slightly so she could head in the same direction as Gazzy and Iggy. I shifted Total in my arms and did the same.

"Dive-bomb!" Gazzy shouted. _Oh, crap_, I thought, watching him pull his wings in and begin to spiral downward, right at the Pentagon.

I glanced at Max and saw panic flashing across her face. "No, Gazzy, don't! It's a government building! They're even more paranoid than we are!"

The Gasman started laughing evilly and kept going. My breath caught in my throat as he got close to the Pentagon, not slowing down until he was only fifty feet away. Then he flipped over and surged upward. This set off the whole flock doing tricks and flips in the air, and man, it felt good. Being up here with the five people I cared about-- and the squirming furball in my arms-- was really all I could ask for.

Until, that is, an enormous sound ripped through the air. Max and I snapped our heads around in unison, and saw two planes-- government, I'm guessing-- flying right at us.

"What's wrong with them?" Nudge asked, scared, and swerved down so she was hovering beside Max.

"We violated the Pentagon's airspace," I told her.

From below my chin, Total said, "I should have stopped you! I, at least, should have known better!"

"Oh, put a muzzle on," I muttered, and he huffed.

"Let's get out of here!" Max called, motioning to us with her arm. We started flying in the opposite direction of the planes and the Pentagon, pumping our wings hard. A small forest was coming up, and she pointed. "Into the trees!"

Slipping through an opening in a treetop, I repositioned myself so I was flying sideways. We all flew like that, maneuvering in and out of the trees. The leaves covered us like a canopy; we couldn't be seen.

When Gazzy let out a whoop, I caught Max's eye and let a shadow of a smile cross my face. She rolled her eyes, and I felt yet another pang, thinking about the previous night.

About twenty minutes later, the jets finally passed, and the flock rose out of the woods and landed a couple minutes away.

"That was awesome!" Gazzy yelled as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Iggy laughed and high-fived him.

"Awesome," Max said with stained patience, "and yet stupid. Let's keep under the radar from now on, guys."

"We _were_ under the radar," Gazzy told her, referring to the canopy of trees we'd just flown under. "Totally under the radar."

"I meant metaphorically. Both under the actual radar and also just low profile, discreet, secret."

"Uh-huh," he said absently, and I smirked at the look of annoyance on her face. "That was so awesome!"

Glad _somebody_ enjoyed it.

**I really did not enjoy writing this one. I'm not good at action scenes.**

**Yeah, so please review?**


	17. Chapter 17

**This one starts out kind of slow, but the last part another bonus scene, and it was fun to write. : )**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Max decided that before we hunkered down, she should call her mom and tell her we were okay. So after we were absolutely sure the jets were gone, we walked back into town and found a payphone. I handed her some spare change I found in my pocket, and she dialed her mom's cell.

It was only a second before Dr. Martinez picked up, and even I, standing two feet off, could hear her panicked voice. "Oh, Max-- are you all right?"

"We're good," Max said, a flicker of pain crossing her face for a split second. "They were just creeping me out."

I guess her mom calmed down, because I couldn't hear what she said next. Total wriggled in my arms, and I let him down so he could trot over to Angel.

"No, me neither," Max was saying, and I tried to think of what she could be talking about. "Give Ella a hug for me, okay?"

Another pause, and Max made a face, sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth and rolling her eyes. I raised my eyebrows, and she waved her hand dismissively.

"Yes," she said hesitantly a moment later, and I had a feeling it was no longer her mom on the other end. "Yes." Then: "So you're not the Voice in my head?"

Jeb.

She rolled her eyes again, placing a hand on her hip. Jeb said something else, something that seemed to be taking a while. When he finished-- or maybe Max interrupted, knowing her-- she warily asked, "Oh, yeah?"

What were they talking about?

_Jeb's being all supportive,_ Angel told him. _And she's wondering what he's up to._

_Huh._

I watched Max carefully, the worry lines on her forehead, as she stared at the phone in her hand. The static was loud, coming from the speaker, and she looked up at me. Our eyes met; her face flushed, and she quickly looked over at Nudge. I inwardly sighed, my eyelids suddenly feeling heavy. I'd really screwed up. What happened to our silent conversations? Things got a little tense and they flew out the window?

Max hung up the payphone and started down the street. "Okay, guys. We'll find some food in a dumpster or something, and then find a place to camp out."

The younger kids walked right by her, Total trotting behind them. Iggy hung back to walk right alongside me. We were about three feet behind the others, and the kids were talking loudly, but just in case, Iggy lowered his voice. "Tell me what happened."

I didn't have to ask what he meant. "No."

"I want every last dirty detail."

I wasted a perfectly good death glare on the blind kid. "There _aren't_ any, Ig."

"Oh, come on. You were gone forever. _Something_ happened. I can tell by the way you two are acting that it wasn't _good_. But it was _something_."

As I kicked a pebble and watched it skip out into the road, I didn't answer. I could hardly handle it myself; sharing it would be too much. Not to mention humiliating.

"Did she run away again?" Iggy pressed.

My head snapped up to look at him, and I stopped walking. He heard my footsteps cease and turned to me expectantly.

"How do you know that?" I asked, lowly and darkly.

"Angel told me that, too."

I scowled. "Good to know my love life--"

"Or lack thereof."

"--provides some gossip for you and Angel."

Iggy sighed, exasperated. "Look, man. There's no gossip to be had. I don't need someone with sight to tell me something that's just _true_, the same way the sun rises in the east."

With that, he strode after the rest of the flock, hands stuffed in his pockets, and I stared after him, wondering what the heck he meant by that.

**Haha. I love when Iggy is teasing Fang and/or Max, and then he turns all sentimental. I love Iggy, he's so funny…**

**Anyway. Review?**


	18. Chapter 18

**This chapter is called Fang Turns Invisible In Fang's POV. Just kidding. It's called Chapter 18. : D**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Maximum Ride.**

Later, we were in the treetops, all tired and ready to sleep. I was straddling a large branch, leaning my head back against the trunk and closing my eyes. It was peaceful, and I was feeling better than I had in the twenty-four hours since I'd kissed Max. The government stuff was over, the whole sky was above us, and we were together.

It felt good.

"Where's Fang?" Max asked suddenly, sounding slightly panicked.

I opened my eyes, confused. The flock was turning around, glancing over their shoulders, looking for me. Confused, I leaned forward a little and said, "I'm right here."

Max stared at me. "I looked-- you weren't there."

I raised my eyebrows at her. I'd been on this branch since we'd first found these trees, over an hour ago. I had no idea what she was talking about. "Yes, I was."

Nudge shook her head slowly. "No, I looked for you too. Were you behind the tree?"

What, I'd disappeared from _all_ their sight? Seriously wondering what was up, I threw my arms in the air. "I was right here!"

"I didn't see you either, man," Iggy said casually, swinging his leg.

"I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy," Max told him.

I sighed and shrugged. "Well, I was here the whole time," I said, and leaned back against the tree trunk, again attempting to fall asleep.

"Fang!" Max cried a few minutes later.

My eyes sprung open, but this time I didn't move. "I'm _here_."

"Behind the tree?" she asked irritably.

I was getting annoyed, too. There were almost no leaves between my branch and hers, so with her raptor vision, she should have been able to see me easily. What was she _on_? "Are you blind? I'm _right here_!"

"You disappeared!" Max insisted. She stood up on her branch, let out her wings a little, and flew down to mine. Sitting on the end of the branch, she faced me and said, "Hold really, really still."

I did, and a couple minutes later she gasped. "You're there, right?"

"Yes," I said, wondering what she was getting at.

"You're-- invisible."

I raised my eyebrows and pushed off the tree trunk again. "Really?"

"Now we can see you," Nudge said, leaning down over the edge of her branch.

Max bit her lip in concentration. "You're mutating. Like Jeb said."

Dude.

So now I had a skill, too. Invisibility. Or partial-invisibility.

Ha. Fit me pretty well, I think.

**Review, please!**


	19. Chapter 19

**When you update daily, there's not much to say in Author's Notes.**

**Huh.**

**Oh, except I'm excited about the chapter I'll be posting tomorrow-- Brigid's evil plan is revealed! Yay!**

**Won't tell you more than that!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I, my friends, do not own Maximum Ride.**

The flock was impressed, to say the least.

"I want to do it too!" the Gasman said excitedly, and then sat completely still, even looking kind of creepy.

Nudge looked at him and shook her head. "Nope. You stand out like a fart in church."

"Appropriately enough," Max said, and I almost chuckled.

"What about me?" Iggy asked. Why was everyone trying to turn invisible? Come on. We all know who the tall, dark, and handsome guy is here. And no, it's not the blonde guys.

"No, you're visible." Max answered Iggy, and I sat still again, totally unmoving, not twitching one muscle.

"Am not!"

Max turned and reached for a pinecone, and then threw it-- not that softly, either-- at him. It bounced off him, and he clutched his chest.

"Could I do that if I couldn't see you?" she asked him smugly.

"Seriously, you can't see me?" I asked her, loving this new skill.

"Not when you're still and quiet."

_Awesome_. I grinned toothily, and I guess Max could see that much, because the look that crossed her face was horrified. But then she recovered and snapped back into Leader Mode.

"Oh, guys, I had a couple thoughts I wanted to go over with you." Total and Angel were a few feet away from me, and Total griped, "Oh, _good_."

Iggy slumped back against the tree trunk and faked a snore. Max picked up another pinecone and chucked it, a prickly side hitting him in the forearm.

"Quit throwing things at me!" he complained. She rolled her eyes.

"Glad you could join us," she said. "Now, listen up. We're on the road again. Erasers don't seem to exist anymore, and we haven't seen any Flyboys. But you know whatever's left of Itex is regrouping and gearing up for the next war. Plus, someone tried to explode us. So, a couple guidelines: We need to move every other day, keep on the go. No staying in one place more than forty-eight hours."

Total curled into a little ball. "Ugh."

Max ignored him, holding up two fingers. "We will not make friends with humans until after the apocalypse."

"What's the apocalypse?" the Gasman asked.

"Basically," Max said, "the complete destruction of the world as we know it. And we will not trust humans, even after the apocalypse."

For a second, a scowl crossed her face, and I sat up, wondering if she was talking to the Voice. But then it disappeared as quickly as it came, and in typical Max fashion, she kept talking. Even though nobody really wanted to listen. "However, I do want us to try to recognize the good in things."

The _good_ in things? When had Max _ever_ been concerned about looking on the sunny side?

"Like my mom. And Ella. And chocolate-chip cookies. It just seems like we shouldn't let our enemies make us all bitter and full of hate and stuff."

She stopped talking, and when I was sure the spiel was over, I said, "Oh, yeah, ix-nay on the ate-hay."

Iggy said, "Who are you, and what have you done with the real Max?"

My sentiments exactly.

"Ha ha," Max said sarcastically. "So I think we should take turns naming three good things that have happened to us. Who wants to start?"

Nobody spoke. Not that this surprised me; thinking of one would be tough. Well, for the others, it would be; for me, I already had one good thing, one nothing could change. I wouldn't be sharing it, though… something told me Max wouldn't appreciate me saying that _she_ was one of the good things that had happened to me.

"Nudge?" Max prompted.

"Um…"

"Well," Total interrupted, "dinner was _delicious_." This earned him a glare from Max, and he sighed. "Okay, okay. Um, well, no one tried to kill us today."

Guess that was true. And such a rare event. "That's one," she said.

"We're all together."

"Okay, two. You're doing good. Go on."

"I don't have fleas," Total finished triumphantly, lifting his canine chin into the air.

I rolled my eyes while Max said, "Uh, yep, I guess that's true. That's a good thing."

"_I_ don't have fleas," Iggy said cockily.

"Bet you do," replied the Gasman, and Max threw her hands in the air, exasperated. As the two boys began bickering, I found myself leaning against the tree trunk again, closing my eyes and inhaling the scent around me, pine and air and--

Bubble gum.

I guess I'm kind of messed up, since Max was in an entirely different tree and I could still recognize her scent. But that was what got me to sleep that night: the familiar smell hitting my nostrils and taking me to sleep, like some weird lullaby.

**I didn't have the best day. Reviews would really cheer me up. : )**


	20. Chapter 20

Mr. Chu sat back in his chair, folding his fingers over his stomach. The light was dim, all the windows in his office shut. His new assistant was supposed to have been there twenty minutes ago; she was not making a good first impression.

The guard at the door moved, and there she was, wearing a pantsuit and red hair hanging down her back. She moved toward the desk, carrying a folder close to her chest.

Mr. Chu stood and shook her hand, nodding at her. "Dr. Dwyer."

"Mr. Chu." Dr. Dwyer sat down in the chair across from him. "I apologize for being late. I ran--"

"You understand," he interrupted flatly, "that the only reason your tardiness hasn't cost you this job is because you're the youngest employee I have."

"Yes." She nodded quickly, eyes in her lap. "I'm aware, and it won't happen again, sir."

"Good." Mr. Chu leaned forward. "Now, as you know, you will meet Valencia Martinez, Jeb Batchelder, and the bird kids at the given coordinates tomorrow. You will accompany the bird kids on Antarctica, where you will convince everyone-- Martinez and Batchelder included, they might be suspicious-- that you are on their side. You will be doing research about global warming, but in private, away from everyone else, you'll be collecting data for _our_ purposes. That much understood?"

"Yes," Dr. Dwyer said with a curt nod, all business.

"Very well. However, that is not the main reason you're down there. We still need to go over the details of your real mission. The reason I need you, in the first place, because of your age."

"Yes, sir?"

"Your mission," Mr. Chu said, standing up and looking her dead in the eyes, so deeply she flinched, "is to woo Maximum Ride's sidekick away from her and to you."

**Part 1 of my Brigid-is-evil plot! Yay!**

**Very short, sorry about that. But I wanted the chapter to end with that line, and then use the next chapter to detail their plan. Next one is short, too, but… I love my theory on how Brigid's evilness discovered in MAX and her flirting with Fang are connected. Heehee.**

**Review, please please please?**


	21. Chapter 21

**Brigid-is-evil-Part-2!**

**Whoo-hoo!**

Dr. Dwyer blinked. "You want me to-- _flirt_ with a fourteen-year-old?"

Mr. Chu nodded. "Not just flirt. You need to completely win him over."

"With all due respect, sir, what does this have to do with our goal?"

"Well," he said, shuffling through some papers and pulling one out. "Maximum is the leader of the group. The sidekick's name is Fang, and according to our spy in Washington--"

"The one posing as part of the American government? Who planted the bomb in their pizza?"

"Yes. Do not interrupt me," Mr. Chu demanded, and Dr. Dwyer nodded, her face flaming. "Our spy in Washington has described Maximum as very dependent on Fang. They're close, very good friends. At her half-brother's funeral, she cried on his shoulder. And Fang is the reason the pizza explosion fell through-- he saved Maximum's life."

"I still don't understand."

"Let me finish, Dr. Dwyer," he said impatiently. "Their relationship is in a tough spot right now. It seems, according to our spy, that Fang has fallen in love with Maximum. And it also seems that she does not return this feeling."

He spat the word 'love' like a cussword, like that was a weakness on the bird boy's part. Dr. Dwyer sat still for a few moments, digesting this, and then Mr. Chu went on. "She has rejected him recently, and not for the first time. Right now, days after the rejection, is the ideal time to make him fall for _you_."

She bit her lip, shifting slightly. "Sir, I obviously don't know as much about the bird kids as you do, but from what you've said, it sounds like this boy has his heart set on the girl. It won't be easy to persuade him otherwise."

Mr. Chu exhaled loudly. "Dr. Dwyer, as I said, his heart--" Just as he'd said 'love' with no good feeling, he said this last word in the same way-- "is in a vulnerable position right now. But even in this rough patch, Maximum trusts nobody, relies on nobody, more than Fang. If we are to destroy her, we must get her sidekick on our side."

Now the man leaned very close to her, a cold look on his face as he slowly, dangerously said, "Do you understand?"

Dr. Dwyer cleared her throat, hurriedly composed herself, and nodded briskly. "Yes, sir. Fang will be taken care of, sir."

**Reviews are much appreciated.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Made up scene-- another one of those Terranean chapters in the book. I really hate those.**

**But I think you guys will like my replacement for it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

As we set up camp the next night, I'd had enough awkward conversations with Max to last me a long time, and I'd already decided I was going to try to get through to her again. And this time, I wouldn't take a detour and kiss her. We'd talk. Just talk.

And then _maybe_ kiss. If everything went okay.

"Hey," I said, standing over her as she started the fire.

"Hi," she said coolly, carefully keeping her eyes on the sticks in front of her.

"Let Iggy do that," I said quietly. "Let's you and me go for a walk."

From across the clearing, I saw Angel's head snap up, and she stared at me, no doubt getting the latest on the Fang Loves Max gossip line. I gave her a slight shake of the head, and she smirked and went back to playing some game with Nudge.

"I'm tired," Max said.

I stopped myself from snorting. I'd just watched her bark orders at everybody while pacing around the camp site and clapping her hands. "Come on," I said. "Just for a few minutes."

With a grunt, she stood, brushing off her hands. "Fine. But I am tired. So we're coming back within ten minutes, kepeesh?"

"Fine." I shrugged and started to head into the woods, Max behind me, calling out to the flock that we'd be back soon. Once we were a safe distance away, I stopped, turned around, and looked Max square in the eye. "We need to talk."

She sighed loudly, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg. "I _knew_ you didn't just want to _go for a walk_. You should be sued for, like, false advertising."

"Stop avoiding the subject," I told her, setting my jaw.

"What subject?"

"You know what subject. Now talk."

"I don't want to talk to you, Fang." She turned away and started to head back to camp, but I grabbed the hood of her sweatshirt and yanked her back to face me.

"I'm your best friend," I said lowly, and Max's face flushed. "You're supposed to be able to talk to me. I'm here to listen, Max."

"What, so now we're best friends again?" she snapped. "You haven't been acting like it. Best friends don't go around kissing each other. And yet, _you_ do. But now you want to talk like nothing ever happened, like everything is just as it used to be?"

I pursed my lips to keep my anger in check. Would she ever understand? "I'll _always_ be your best friend. Nobody understands you like I do."

For just a second, her face softened, but then she looked down and shook her head. "Fang," Max said, and I was surprised at her quiet voice. "Drop it."

Something possessed me to forcibly grab her arm in one hand and tilt her chin up with the other. She looked at me fearfully, afraid I was about to kiss her. But I didn't. Instead, I looked right into those deep brown eyes and said, in the gentlest voice I could muster, "I just want to know why."

Max shoved me so suddenly I stumbled backward and felt the bark of the tree dig into my back. Before I could even respond-- whether I would have shoved her back or tried to talk some sense in her, I'm not sure-- she was stomping away, back to camp. I could see Iggy and Angel standing together, obviously eavesdropping. When they saw Max approaching, they pretended to be inspecting a flower at their feet.

I sighed, sticking my hands in my pockets and leaning back on the tree. _There she goes_, I thought. _Walking away from me. Again._

**Poor Fang-ster. Review?**


	23. Chapter 23

**First real chapter in a while! Yay : D**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride!**

Later, we were all gathered around our camp fire, eating the food we'd managed to get our hands on earlier that day. I was feeling really, really down-- worse than I'd felt after Max ran away the first time or the second time. Because now, our friendship had been altered to the point where we couldn't just _talk_ like we used to. And I hated it.

"Where are we headed next, Max?" Nudge asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I looked over at Max, saw her hesitate because she didn't have a plan. Even when we were on the outs, I could read her like a book. "Chili?" she asked everyone, stalling.

As she gave Gazzy some, Nudge said, "Let's go back to France. I loved France."

"Yeah, France was nice," Max said, and pursed her lips. "Except for the four Itex branches."

I inwardly winced. They'd been in Europe when the flock split; I should have been there with them. I should have been with them while they were captured in Germany. I should have been fighting that Omega guy alongside Max. Instead, I was in the States seething about Ari.

Stupid.

"How about Canada? Seems cool," Iggy said, obviously not feeling the same guilt I was.

"Hm," Max said thoughtfully, a tone that, to everybody else, meant she was thinking it over, but I knew she was still stalling. Just like most of the rest of the time, she had no idea what we were doing next.

Iggy started feeling around for trash, muttering each color as he touched the object. This was still going on as Angel said, very casually, "Oh, guess what. I have a new skill!"

Seriously? How many more _could_ she get? Max and I exchanged a look of disbelief, and after she looked away, I smiled to myself. Even after a totally awkward last couple of days, we were still as in sync as ever.

"You mean-- besides the talking-to-fish stuff?" Max asked Angel. She shook her head yes, curls bouncing around her shoulders. "Um, what is it?"

"Look." And then, while everybody watched her carefully, her skin morphed from pale to tan, and the clear blue eyes became a brown slightly darker than Max's, and the curls straightened out and turned caramel.

"See?" Angel asked proudly. I was having trouble not panicking, since it seemed like the real Angel had disappeared before our eyes.

"Um, yeah," Max stuttered, just as freaked as I was.

"I can change how I look!"

"Uh-huh, yep, I see that."

"Show them bird girl," Total said from his spot in Angel's lap. "I love that one."

_Bird girl_? Wasn't she already a bird girl…?

_Holy shit, _I thought, once she'd transformed again. She looked like she'd been tarred and feathered. The only thing that remained the same were her eyes, back to their normal blue. The rest of her, every inch of skin showing, was covered with blue-green feathers.

"Oh, my God," Nudge gasped, leaning forward. "That is so awesome."

Not how I would describe it, but okay.

Angel morphed back to normal, and I'll admit I was relieved. "So far I can only do those two. But I bet if I practice, I can do other stuff."

"Uh-huh," Max said, very visibly trying not to drive herself insane trying to figure this out. I was having difficulty with that, too. First Nudge and Iggy, then me, now Angel? Each skill was weirder than the last. I mean, seriously. Feathers spontaneously appearing from head to toe? I know we're part bird, but come on.

"How come she can do that and I can't?" Gazzy asked, crossing her arms over his chest. His jealousy puzzled me; why would anybody _want_ to have the ability to transform into a pastel peacock?

"You're siblings, not twins," Max said, ruffling his hair.

Nudge rubbed her forehead nervously. "We're all changing a lot. We're changing in ways they didn't plan, didn't expect."

I totally got what she were talking about. This _was_ pretty freaky.

Apparently, Iggy didn't think so. "Yeah. By the end of the week, we'll be tadpoles."

"Iggy," Nudge snapped, giving him a little glare, "I'm serious. We don't know what's going to happen to us."

I was hanging on every word of this, my mind still fishing for an answer. Nothing came. When Max looked over at me, I set my jaw and put on a guarded expression. I saw her face change slightly as she switched over to Leader Mode.

"Listen up, guys," she began, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin. "It's true we're changing, and in ways they didn't program. And we have no idea what's going to happen next. But you know what? No one else does either. It's the _one_ way that we're like the rest of all the people out there. No one _ever_ knows what's going to happen next. People change all the time, and they're not sure how they'll end up. They might be short or tall, able to play the piano or not; they might have their mom's eyes or their dad's nose or their uncle's bald spot. It's _always_ a mystery. It's the one constant, everywhere, with everyone. We're just a little more exciting, a little cooler than most."

I watched the others relax after her little speech. She was such a good leader; she always knew just what to say to make them feel better. Why couldn't she say _any_thing to me?

They say love is supposed to make you happy and joyful and complete your life.

I say that I hate love.

**I don't like how much Fang thinks about Max in this story… but… I guess one of the points of this little challenge was to add in more Faxness, and who knows what else the guy thinks about?**

**Anyway. Are people reading this? I don't get many reviews lately… : (**


	24. Chapter 24

**Well, I had a **_**much**_** better review turn out last chapter-- good to know people **_**are**_** reading this and **_**are**_** enjoying it. : )**

**Another made-up chapter, in place of Fang's blog. More Brigid-is-evil-ness!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Maximum Ride. JP does.**

"Hi," the smiling woman said, holding out her hand. "I'm Dr. Valencia Martinez."

Brigid took her hand and shook it in a very businesslike manner, then forced herself to act friendlier and plaster a smile on her face. "Dr. Brigid Dwyer. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Dr. Martinez said. "We--" She indicated the rest of the plane they were on, soaring high above the earth, as she sunk down onto the couch beside Brigid. "--are so glad you've agreed to help with this. We've heard about your enormous potential as a young scientist."

"Thank you," Dr. Dwyer said. "I'm excited about this mission. We're really hoping this helps us take big strides with our global warming efforts. Now, I'd really like to know more about these kids before I meet them. What are they like?"

She half-listened to the descriptions of how Nudge and Angel were just the sweetest little girls, and how the Gasman-- _why_ was he called that?-- and Iggy were troublemakers, but great kids nonetheless. And then Dr. Martinez started talking about Fang, and Dr. Dwyer snapped back to attention.

"…not really sure how to describe him," she said, biting her lip. "He's very quiet, very reserved. But he and Max-- she's my biological daughter, I'm sure you know-- are, uh… extremely… close."

"Hmm," Dr. Dwyer said, nodding politely, noticing how the older doctor had stumbled when talking about Max and Fang's relationship. Instead of being obvious and asking for more information about it, she said, "And Max? Tell me more about her."

"Oh," Dr. Martinez said, smiling a little. "She's a great leader. She's the rest of the kids' mother figure; she's so great at it. Don't be surprised if she's a little bit guarded when she meets you, now that I think about it-- she's just protective of those kids."

"I understand," she replied, forcing another smile. "Now, what's up with Max and Fang? You said they're close?"

"Oh…" She thought for a second, looking at the ceiling. "Well, don't mention this to Max-- she didn't especially appreciate it the first time I brought it up-- but they've been best friends forever, and I _think_ something else is going on. I've noticed that Fang can be protective of her, and lately something seems… off between them. I don't--" Dr. Martinez stopped suddenly and touched her fingertips to her lips. "Oh, dear, I shouldn't have said all that. Please, don't mention anything to Max."

"Don't worry," Dr. Dwyer said quickly. "I understand."

Oh, she understood. And she needed no more information. In only a matter of weeks, Fang wouldn't be giving Maximum Ride another thought. She would make sure of that.

**Review? : )**


	25. Chapter 25

**Almost time to meet Dr. Amazing! Yuck.**

I was on third watch. The sun had risen about an hour ago. I used to love to watch the sun rise; sometimes, at the E-shaped house, I would get up early to watch it. While we were on the run, sleeping in trees, the view was amazing. Soon after we left home, though, I discovered a sight far more beautiful and interesting than the sun.

When Max slept, all the worry lines disappeared, and so did the scowl. Her face relaxed, her cheeks weren't red with anger; they were just naturally rosy. Blonde hair was fanned out around her head, some of it a curtain across one eye. I had the urge to move it, so I reached forward. Just as I tucked it behind her ear, she shifted on her branch, and I drew away quickly, settling back against the trunk.

Max slowly sat up, holding her head, and I started to move forward. Was the Voice talking to her? Giving her a brain attack?

Then her face broke into a big smile-- man, what a smile-- and she called, "Okay, everyone up! Up and at 'em! It's a whole new day!"

Nudge of course, said, "I'm hungry. You know what would be good? Like, one of those sausage McHeart-Attack things. The biscuit things. I want about eight of 'em."

"We'll eat on the way," Max told her, not seeming to mind the rambling. "The Voice says we have to go someplace, meet my mom."

Ah. Seeing her mom always meant a good mood for Max, even when it was accompanied with a visit from the Voice.

Angel grabbed her backpack and dug around, pulling out Celeste a moment later. "Could it be a trap?" she asked, her face scrunched up in worry.

"It can _always_ be a trap, sweetie," Max told her, and leaped off her branch, unfurling her wings, and taking off. I watched for a moment, breathless, and then I felt Angel staring at me.

"What?" I asked, turning my head.

"Should we follow her?"

I looked around. None of the rest of the flock had taken off. They were standing around on their various branches, wings half out. Total was still sleeping in Angel's arms. "What're you guys doing?" I asked them. "Go!"

Once they had, I followed and quickly caught up, taking my position flanking Max. Not for the first time since the flock had reunited, I thought of how right it felt to fly with Max. Flying without her had just felt so messed up. Like a hamburger with no bread.

That was an odd analogy.

A couple hours later, we spotted our destination: a private landing strip in some woods, a private jet sitting there, what looked like traffic control guys moving around it.

Max stopped and crossed her arms, watching the scene below carefully. I moved up beside her, tensing as well. Then we spotted her mom, walking out of the plane, some lady behind her. When I felt Max's muscles relax, mine did too.

"Doesn't look very trappy," Nudge mused, coming up on my other side.

"No-- but be on guard, just in case," I told her, exchanging a small nod with Max. Then she tucked her wings in and started going down. Just like always, I followed her.

**I love reviews!**


	26. Chapter 26

**I'm baaaaaaack!**

**I'm sort of riding a high today, because last night, at approximately 11:30 PM, I finished my NaNoWriMo novel. And I'm really excited and really glad I did it. And I wanted to thank you guys for your patience and understanding, because if I hadn't shut down this daily-updated story, I don't think I would have made the 50,000 words with NaNo. So thank you!**

**Here is your chapter. : )**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride.**

As soon as we were safely on the ground, Dr. Martinez was right there, calling out Max's name and hugging her.

"What's going on?" Max asked, squeezing her back. "I thought I wouldn't see you for a while."

"Me too." She pulled away and smiled around at the rest of us. "But Jeb and I have come up with an unusual possibility for you guys, and we wanted to see if you were interested."

At the word _Jeb_, I immediately went on guard. Max and I exchanged a glance: this could be a trap. "Unusual how?"

"Well, sort of a science trip," Dr. Martinez told us. Hmm… science trip. Sounded like field trip. If this was anything like the one we'd taken to Washington, D.C., where Lissa had clung to me like glue, I'd be passing. "A science trip where you would work with scientists in a pretty remote place. We think it would be kind of fun for you guys, plus you would be useful to the scientists, plus this place is so remote that we think you'd be safer than usual while you're there."

"Huh," Max said, biting her lip and thinking it over. She didn't seem as cautious as she normally would be, probably since this was coming from her mom. I trusted Dr. Martinez, but I was naturally unnerved by the way she kept saying "this place," not naming it.

"Where's this remote place?" I asked.

Dr. Martinez grinned-- not diabolically, like I would usually expect when conferring with an adult, but just… mischievously. "I'd like to keep that a secret until you're almost there. To help you keep an open mind. And now I'd like you to meet one of the scientists."

Not knowing where we were being sent didn't settle well with me, but Max seemed satisfied, so I dropped it. For now.

I watched a young blonde woman walk over from where she'd been standing by the plane. She came forward in a very serious, businesslike manner, except for her eyes. If she hadn't been forcing herself to stay composed, she would have been all over us, like, "Show me your wings, mutants!"

"I'm Dr. Brigid Dwyer," she said, holding out her hand.

"I'm Max." As Max shook her hand, I tensed: this lady made me nervous, with her intense interest in us, and I had a vision of some kind of poison being injected into Max's veins when she touched her skin. "What's this science field trip about?"

"I'll explain once we're on board," Dr. Dwyer said.

Obviously she hadn't done her homework on Max. This wasn't going to fly.

Oh, geez. Cheesy pun.

Max plastered a big, fake smile on her face and said, "How about you explain _before_ we get on board?"

Dr. Dwyer blinked, thinking she couldn't have heard right.

"Or we could all split now," Max added, raising her eyebrows, posing a challenge.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Dr. Martinez has recommended you for a… rescue mission."

"Do tell." Max crossed her arms over her chest. I mimicked her position, narrowing my eyes a little. "What-- or who-- are we rescuing?"

I watched Dr. Dwyer's cheeks flush a little bit as she uncertainly answered, "The world?"

**Eww… Brigid.**

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	27. Chapter 27

"**It's a **_**baby**_** plane," Angel whispered, her jaw open as we looked around the private jet. "It's going to grow up to be a seven forty-seven someday."**

**I nodded, sticking my hands in my pockets as I looked around at the furniture, the huge TV. I noticed a love seat, and couldn't help glancing over at Max. Hmmm…**

_**Fang, **_**scolded Angel. **_**Aren't you supposed to be making sure there's nothing suspicious in the galley?**_

_**Oh, **_**I thought back, starting to head in that direction. **_**Right.**_

_**Honestly, Fang. **_**I could still hear her voice in my head as I eyed every shelf, then slid open the door to the bathroom, poking my head inside. **_**You're head over heels. You need another interest.**_

_**Like what? **_**I thought. **_**I don't really have time for hobbies, you know.**_

_**Not like that. If you took as much interest in Total as you do in Max, Total could be my best friend **_**and**_** man's best friend!**_

**Rolling my eyes, I headed back out to the others. Max caught my eye, and I nodded, letting her know I was satisfied with what I'd found. Then she turned around and started examining the rest of the room, feeling claustrophobic and anxious, I could clearly tell. I so wanted to sit her down on that love seat and hold her for this whole trip, just let her know that no matter whatever happened with us, I would be there when she needed me.**

_**You're such a sap.**_

**I looked over at Angel and scowled. She blinked innocently in response. **_**Out of my head.**_

"**Please," Dr. Dwyer said, motioning to the furniture. "Sit down and be comfortable. Fasten your seatbelts, just for takeoff. As soon as we're in the air, you can have refreshments."**

**She sunk into a leather chair, and Max sat in the love seat. I quickly-- yet still calmly and coolly-- sat down beside her. As we buckled up, our hands brushed. I looked at Max, but she was intentionally looking away, cheeks slightly pink.**

"**Whose plane is this?" she asked Dr. Dwyer, turning away from me.**

"**It belongs to Nino Pierpont," she responded. Max's eyebrows shot up in tandem with mine. Wow, so we were being funded by the richest man in the world. This would initially seem like a good thing, but being a mutant freak, you learn to trust nobody. And the caution here is that a man with a **_**lot**_** of money has a **_**lot**_** of power. Especially if that man turns out to be somebody who'd like to take over the world.**

"**So where are we going?" Max asked casually. "Please tell me someplace warm. I've had enough cold weather this winter to last me a lifetime."**

"**South America," Dr. Dwyer said, but she was pursing her lips and looking at the floor. "Argentina."**

"**Rain forest?"**

"**No. We'll be taking a boat from there."**

**Why couldn't we just fly there-- either in this plane or with our own wings? I decided I didn't like this chick. Something was up her sleeve. "A boat?" I clarified. Dr. Dwyer nodded, still not meeting our eyes. "To where?"**

**Suddenly she was unbuckling and standing up. "How about something to eat?"**

**Max and I exchanged a glance, and I saw my own suspicion reflected in her eyes. We silently agreed to beware of Dr. Dwyer-- something wasn't right here.**

**I continue to contend that Fang was never that into Brigid. She's twenty-- he wouldn't do that. And he had his heart set on Max.**

**Well, that's **_**my**_** opinion, anyway. : )**

**I love reviews.**


	28. Chapter 28

After an unsuccessful attempt by Dr. Dwyer to get us to ride with her in her Jeep-- yeah, like we were _that_ stupid-- the flock was flying over her. It was freaking cold, and we didn't know exactly where we were being led-- it was kind of miserable.

"Are we there yet?" Total asked. I looked in the direction of his voice; Max was holding him. She scowled down at him, and he quickly shut up.

Before long, Dr. Dwyer was driving onto a dock. Yes, a dock, as in the place where a) Max and I had shared one heck of an amazing kiss, b) Max had apparently realized she loved me, and c) I'd been rejected. Again.

Don't you just _love_ docks?

I was so caught up with these thoughts that when Max groaned in frustration, I was confused. Then I realized what she was annoyed about: it was a dock, which means we're near a body of water. Duh, Captain Fang. And this water had _huge_ chunks of _ice_ floating in it. Hence the _cold_.

"This would be why your mom wanted us to keep an open mind, huh?" I asked, glowering down at the ocean.

"This would be why," she sighed. We began to descend cautiously, and when nothing looked suspicious-- except for Dr. Dwyer, who Max and I totally didn't trust-- we landed on the dock.

"You really can fly," Dr. Dwyer said in amazement as she stood by her car. With difficulty, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. What else would we do with the _wings_?

"Well," said Max in that trademark half-sarcastic-half-serious voice, "it's not just an elaborate hoax."

I watched her shake out her wings, the moon shining off the brown and white feathers. They were beautiful. _She_ was beautiful, standing there with the sparkling ocean behind her, the slight breeze blowing her hair around her face.

"It's… very beautiful," Dr. Dwyer said, and I nodded, my eyes still on Max. Then I realized she was talking about our flying and that everybody was walking to the edge of the dock. Snapping out of my daze, I quickly recovered and walked beside Max. Angel giggled in my head.

"…some of the trauma you've endured because of it," Dr. Dwyer was saying. "But to me, on the outside, it seems both beautiful and enviable."

_Huh, _I thought. _Maybe she's not so bad after all._ But I immediately pushed that thought aside, not wanting to let my guard done so early in knowing a person.

"This is our research vessel," she said, gesturing at the run-down boat, called the _Wendy K_, in front of us. "We're from the International Earth Science Foundation."

Max was squinting at all the rust on it, and the weird antennas sticking out the top. Seeing this, Dr. Dwyer said, "We bought her as a retired offshore trawler. Hey, Michael."

I looked behind me, and some guy was there. He smiled and waved at us. "Yo, Brigid!" Just like his coworker, he looked extremely interested in us-- but since this was a guy, and a thirty-something one at that, I got slightly nervous when his eyes landed on Max. I looped my arm loosely around her waist.

"Would you cut that out?" she asked through gritted teeth, and pull away from me.

Okay, that stung. I don't know why-- it definitely wasn't the first time she pushed me away, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last. But that didn't change the fact that I wanted to be there for Max, and she was making that really, really hard.

"But," Dr. Dwyer went on, and I turned back to the boat. "We've retrofitted her, mostly through donations, and now she's one of our best research stations." She began to climb up the ladder on the side of the boat. "It's safe, I assure you."

"Maybe," Gazzy muttered from between Max and I. "Maybe not." But then he flew up on the dock to land beside Dr. Dwyer and Michael. The others followed, and I brought up the rear of the group.

"Oh, my God," said Michael, staring at us, mouth wide open. "It's true!"

Again, I tried not to roll my eyes. _Wings_, people! We have _wings_! Of course we can fly!

"Well, it's not just an elaborate hoax," Dr. Dwyer said, repeating what Max had said earlier, to my slight annoyance. "Michael, this is Max, Fang, Iggy, the, uh, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel. Guys, this is Dr. Michael Papa, one of our leading research scientists."

Max was beside me, holding Total, and he growled, irritated at being forgotten.

"On, and this is their dog, Total," she said quickly, smiling a little.

Total exhaled loudly, not happy with the term 'dog'.

"Thank you for coming," Dr. Papa said to us. He shook all our hands-- when it was my turn, I fixed him with a cold gaze, which he seemed surprised at-- and the younger kids seemed to like him right away.

"We still don't know why we're here," Max said, crossing her arms in hopes of being intimidated and shivering with the cold. I so wanted to rub her shoulders, but knew I couldn't. Not now.

"Brigid didn't tell you?" Dr. Papa asked, surprised. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "You're here to help us gather data for a research project-- about global warming and its effects on Antarctica, among other places. You're here to help us save the world."

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard those three words.

**More Max pushing away Fang. So sad.**

**Reviews make me happy : )**


	29. Chapter 29

**Is everybody glad to have their daily updates back? I am, I missed this story. : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters or anything.**

"Fang?" Iggy asked as I led him into the little cabin we'd be sharing with Gazzy while we were on the _Wendy K_.

"No, I have not made another move on Max," I said crossly, tossing my backpack onto one of the two top bunks. "No, there are no dirty details. Yes, she still won't talk to me. Okay, discussion over."

"That was four whole sentences, man," Iggy said, feeling his way to the bunk beneath mine and plopping down on it. "You seem to like talking more when it's about Miss Maximum."

I growled and punched him in the shoulder.

"Actually, that's not what I was gonna ask," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Still, disappointed about the lack of dirty details. Keep me posted-- ow! No need to resort to violence!"

"If you have something to ask me, ask," I said, completely not in the mood for this right now. Not after the way Max had jerked away from me earlier. I don't know what I expected, but… it wasn't that.

Iggy's face suddenly grew solemn, and he looked at me, something very… _deep_ on his face. I found myself taking a step closer. "Fang, my eyes… my eyes have felt weird lately."

"Your eyes?"

"Yeah. Ever since that night when I found out I could feel colors, they've sort of tingled. And they don't feel so… dead. If that makes sense."

"Huh." I stuck my hands in my pockets and thought for a second. With all our mutations lately, Iggy getting his eyesight back didn't seem entirely outside the realm of possibility. I mean, Angel's shape-shifting thing was much weirder. But I didn't want to tell him this and get his hopes up, in case it didn't happen. "I don't know."

I hoped this wouldn't occur to him, but apparently it did. "Do you think I could be getting ready to see again?"

I sighed. "I really don't know, man."

Iggy thought for a minute, then nodded and stood up. "Okay." He quickly walked past me, running his fingers on every surface. I sighed again and followed him out the door. I knew he had already gotten his hopes up, and I'd just sort of squashed them, but it was for his own good.

We headed back down the hallway towards the girls' room, entering just in time to hear Total say, "You're making my head hurt."

Iggy was still figuring out where everything was, feeling around the room. I leaned in the doorway with my arms over my chest, watching him scowl. "It's small in here. I feel like we're inside a submarine. Can't we sleep in hammocks on the deck?"

"It's really cold out there," Max said grumpily, voicing exactly my thoughts.

"Frankly, I'd rather be in Hawaii," Total said, hopping up on the bed. I rolled my eyes. Only _our_ mutant dog would have an opinion on this. "Can your Voice send us _there_? We could be lying on a beach on Kauai, with drinks with little umbrellas in them. Instead we're literally at the _end of the world_, doing God knows what. And what's the food gonna be like on this boat? I am not into this plan, I can tell you--"

His rant stopped, and his eyes, staring at me, just about bugged out of his head. "Well, alo-_ha_."

Whoa. Something was very wrong with this picture. Total was… checking me out? Okay, one, gross, for obvious reasons. Two, I was taken. Well, I _wanted_ to be taken.

"I know it's not the Hilton, but it's not too bad," said a voice from behind me, and I spun, startled. It was Dr. Papa. Oh, Total had been looking past me… to check out _Dr. Papa_?! I felt thoroughly disgusted now. "We'll try to make you as comfortable as possible. Now, if you've settled in, we can gather in the conference room. You can meet everyone, and we can try to answer your questions."

My mind was still reeling, wondering what Total's deal was and when I could discuss this with Max, when Dr. Papa reached down. I followed his hand and saw that he was scratching the head of a big white dog. "This is Akila, our mascot and official rescue dog."

Oh. I glanced behind me at Total: yeah, it was the dog he was staring at. Still sort of weird, but _way_ better than checking out me or Dr. Papa.

"Can she talk?" Angel asked innocently, cocking her head to the side.

I barely contained my laughter at Dr. Papa's expression. "Uh, no." He looked tentatively at Angel, then at all of us. Again, his gaze lingered a little on Max, and I fought the urge to slug him across the face. As if sensing this, he glanced over at me. I raised my eyebrows, a challenge. Shaking his head quickly, he looked at the flock and said, "Come join us, okay? Go up to the deck, and the conference room is in the forward cabin hatch." He was off before he was completely finished talking, that dog following.

Huh. Guess I scared him off. Good.

"Akila's pretty," said Angel, looking admiringly at Celeste. "Like a white teddy bear."

"Pretty?" Total asked incredulously, craning his neck to see through the door, wanting one last glance. "She's a goddess!"

"You're drooling on Angel's bed," Gazzy said helpfully.

"Oh, my God, she's magnificent," Total went on, hardly hearing him. "Did you see her cheekbones? That fur, brighter than sunlight…"

_And_ we also have the only lovesick mutant dog.

"Um, Total?," Max asked, biting her lip in that way I found adorable. Speaking of lovesick… "Akila's really pretty and all, but you know, she's just a regular dog, and…"

She stopped when she saw the look in Total's eyes as he glared at her. "_Regular dog_! She's _perfection_! Don't you ever call her 'regular' again! Is the Venus de Milo just a statue? Is the _Mona Lisa _just a painting? Is the Louvre just a museum?"

"No, it was neat," Nudge said. That must have been a place they went to while in Europe… a place I should have been, too. My stomach started to hurt like it always did when I thought about how I'd left them.

Max sighed, looking tired, and I felt even more guilt-- how many times had she been tired and needing me to help her out while I was hanging around in Los Angeles? "Okay, everyone, let's go find out what they want us to do. With any luck, we can quickly save the world and still have time to make the hot-air balloon festival in New Mexico. I've always wanted to see that," she finished sarcastically.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and covered it up with, "Cool." And we started down the hall.

**I quite enjoyed Fang and Iggy's conversation, haha.**

**Did you?**

**Let me know… : )**


	30. Chapter 30

**I've spent my whole evening on the phone with Apple about an iTunes issue… sigh. It's been a long day… anyhow, here's your update!**

"Welcome," Dr. Dwyer said as we entered the room, Max and I leading the way. Seven adults already occupied the room, and there were six more chairs for us to sit in, plus a little one for Total.

"Please," said Dr. Papa, rising from his seat and smiling at us. I narrowed my eyes, anger bubbling inside me. This guy made me really uncomfortable. "Sit down. As you know, I'm Dr. Michael Papa, but you can call me Michael. You know Dr. Brigid Dwyer--"

"Can we call you Brigid?" Nudge cut him off, turning to Dr. Dwyer. I saw Max shoot her a Look, but of course she didn't notice. "Brigid's a neat name."

"Yes, of course," she said, nodding. "We're pretty informal around here."

Alright. Brigid. Brigid the Suspicious Scientist. It had a nice ring.

The other scientists took turns introducing themselves. There was Melanie Bone, Brian Carey and his brother Paul, Emily Robertson, and Sue-Ann Wong. They each told us their positions, too, but they all sounded the same to me-- just like all the whitecoats were the same.

Then they were all staring at us, as if waiting for us to mutate before their eyes. It must have been pretty surprising for them to see us standing before them like normal humans, when they'd obviously been expecting a lot more.

"Okay," Max finally sighed, getting out of her seat beside me. "Let's just get this out of the way."

She stepped back to where there was room, rolled her shoulders, and began to unfurl her wings. The scientists-- even Brigid and Michael, who had already seen them-- stared, awestruck as they filled the room. I was staring, too-- Max was beautiful, and when her wings were out, she was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. More than a few times, I'd been so mesmerized watching her fly that someone else had to nudge me to take off.

"So they're not connected to your arms," Melanie said after a few seconds of silence. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Hadn't she seen our _bare_ arms when we first came in here?

"Nope," Max said, shaking her head. "We have six limbs."

"Like dragons," put in Nudge, and she and Max exchanged a big smile. Man, Max's smile…

"Like insects," added the Gasman.

"They're so big," Emily said in wonder. "They're beautiful."

They were. I was always thinking the same thing, but of course I never told Max because she would deck me. Right now, she looked down self consciously and launched into science, trying to change the subject. "Thanks. They have to be big because we're bigger and heavier, proportionally, than birds."

"How much do you weigh?" asked Paul, then winced, realizing he'd just asked a girl that sensitive question. Guess nobody bothered to tell him that Max wasn't your typical teenage girl. "Sorry, I mean--"

"A bit less than a hundred pounds," Max answered, not bothered at all, to Paul's surprise. "The reason I don't look like a skeleton is that our bones and muscles are made differently, lighter. So even though I'm five-eight, I look slender at ninety-seven pounds but not grotesquely skinny."

_Yes, you are tall and slender, _I thought, looking at her. Angel kicked me under the table, and when I turned to look at her, I got a glare.

"Do you identify as a human or as a bird?" Brigid asked.

What a dumb question. Every part of us was human except for the wings, the weird skills, and the lighter bones. If our wings were tucked in, we looked like perfectly normal people. And we _were_ like perfectly normal people. Duh.

Max, though, didn't find this so simple. She thought for a minute, looking down. "I don't know. I look in the mirror and see a girl. I have hands and feet. But when I'm up in the sky, and the ground is far below… I feel my wings working, and I know I can get oxygen out of thin, high air… it doesn't feel very… human."

Wow. That, folks, was Maximum Ride being emotional. Why couldn't she ever do that around me?

Her cheeks, flushed, though, and I saw how embarrassed she was at opening up that much, especially to a group of strangers. As she quickly folded her wings in and sat back down, I wanted to reach out and put my arm around her, but I knew that wouldn't go over well.

"I feel more human, I think," Nudge said, pulling the attention away from Max. I shot her a grateful look. "I like clothes and fashion and doing my hair. The stuff I like is what kids like, what people like. Music and movies and reading. I mean, I never want to make a nest for myself or anything."

Everybody laughed, the tension of a few moments ago forgotten. Max laughed, too, and seeing her face light up like that immediately put me in a better mood.

"I don't feel all that human," Angel said once the laughter had died down. I kicked Max lightly under the table, and we shared a look, thinking the same thing: of course she didn't, what with her funky powers and all that jazz. "I'm not sure what I see when I look in the mirror. When I think of me, I picture someone with wings. I know I'm not normal. There aren't any kids to hang out with who are like me. Besides the flock. I know I don't fit in anywhere. This world isn't set up for people like me, like us. Nothing in this world is designed for us, designed to make us comfortable. We always stick out, we always make do. People want us, or want us dead, because of _what_ we are, not _who_ we are. It's hard."

You could have heard a pen drop in the silence that followed what must have been the most insightful speech ever given by a six year old. I was stunned. Max was stunned. The scientists were stunned, and beginning to realize that they had more than your average science experiments on their hands.

"Not to be pushy, but is there any way to get some chow in this place? I'm starving."

Leave it to Total.

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	31. Chapter 31

**Hmm, I never have much to say when the updates are daily, you know? Let's see…**

**Happy reading? : )**

I guess nobody bothered to tell these people that Total could talk, either. What _did_ they know?

Another awkward silence set in as the scientists stared at him, eyes just about bugging out of their heads. The flock just sat there, waiting for an answer.

"A sandwich would be nice," Nudge finally said.

"Yes, of course," said Melanie quickly, standing up. "I'll be right back."

She left, and I turned to Max, trying to catch her eye. We couldn't talk about our suspicions or anything, since most of the scientists were still here, but usually all we needed was one glance to know what the other was thinking. Before she noticed me, though, Michael Papa started grilling us with more questions, and Max was quick to answer.

Melanie returned shortly after with a cart of sandwiches, and we all took three. Again, the scientists looked shocked-- this time with our large appetite-- but said nothing. As we dug our teeth into the sandwiches, someone pulled up a PowerPoint.

"Global warming is probably the most significant disaster modern society has had to face," began Sue-Ann.

Total didn't waste any time inserting his commentary. "Clearly she hasn't seen this season's platform wedges." I held back a grin, and Max elbowed him, causing a loud grunt.

"If mankind continues with its current energy-use habits, there's a probability that sea levels could rise by up to twenty feet within a hundred years," Emily said from where she stood beside Sue-Ann.

"So we'll all have beach houses?" Gazzy asked, his blue eyes wide and excited. "Cool!"

I stifled another grin. I know we were supposed to be taking this global warming stuff, whatever it was, seriously, but I was having a hard time getting into that mindset. I mean, I was so used to kicking butt, and this felt more like school, regular school, more than anything.

Paul, obviously, wasn't having this issue. "Not cool," he said seriously. "It means that most countries will lose a lot of coastal land, plus the wildlife and ecosystems that flourish there. Many states and countries will be smaller, which means more people moving inland. We would lose big parts of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, and a lot of the eastern seaboard. They would be mostly under water. So tens of millions of people would be displaced, needing new homes, new jobs."

Well, that _did_ sound kind of bad.

"What the heck is global warming?" Iggy asked.

The scientists looked surprised, since this was probably in their basic vocabulary, but Melanie answered. "Basically, it's a buildup of certain gases, like carbon dioxide, in our atmosphere. The earth's atmosphere traps them there, and they act like a blanket. It's making the average temperature of the oceans and the air slowly rise."

"A gas blanket," Iggy mused. "Well, you should know all about that, Gaz."

Gazzy grinned, and this time, I couldn't hold mine back. That was just too good, especially when I noticed the scientists looking confused and a little worried.

"It would be nice if the world were a little warmer." Nudge put in her two cents. "I hate cold weather."

"Yeah," Gazzy agreed enthusiastically, practically bouncing up and down in his seat. "No more jackets, no more frostbite, no more car wrecks on icy roads. People would save money by not heating their houses. We could wear shorts all the time."

I mentally scoffed. Shorts. No matter how hot it was, I'd be sticking to my black jeans and shirt, thank you.

Emily smiled in a 'what-a-cute-little-kid' kind of way. "If it were really like that, it might not be too bad. Though I like cold weather and I would miss skiing. But the problem is that one little change in the earth's temperature causes all sorts of other changes. Like falling dominoes."

"Besides the catastrophic loss of land all over the world, even a slight temperature rise causes more extreme weather everywhere," Paul added, expanding on what Emily had said. "We already have more hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and rainfall just because the earth's temperature has risen barely more than a degree in the last hundred years. On the other hand, we have more droughts and more wildfires as well."

Then they showed us pictures of these tsunamis and droughts from places all over the world. It _was_ kind of horrific, really, what global warming had done to these people and animals.

"The rising temperature affects crops and plants everywhere," Brigid said, stepping in front of the PowerPoint. I watched her carefully while trying to hide that I was doing so, because something still struck me as suspicious. I wasn't sure what yet, but I would find out. "Trees are germinating an average of ten days earlier. Plants everywhere are blooming earlier. Plants that need cooler weather are slowly moving northward. Plants that thrive in warmer temperatures are more widespread than ever."

"And that's bad because…?" Total asked, putting his paws on the table. The room was still startled when he spoke, even though they knew it happened by now. He quickly lost interest in an answer and added, "Can I have a Coke or something?"

"Don't give him soda," Max said. "He'll be hiccupping all night."

Total gave her a dirty look while I smiled a little bit. Michael said, "We don't have any soda. Just water, milk, tea, or coffee."

"It's a problem because plants affect animals, and animals affect plants, and the whole system goes out of balance," Melanie told Total, who wasn't really listening anymore.

Iggy spontaneously burst into, "It's the ciiirrrcle of liiiifffe." I kicked him under the table.

"Scientists estimate that at least two hundred sixty different species are already responding to global warming by changing their migration and reproduction patterns," Sue-Ann said. "The loss of plant and animal life can't be calculated."

Okay. This did sound bad, and these people had proved they were knowledgeable. They were hitting us with all kinds of facts, but not the answer to the million dollar question. Nobody else was asking it, so I would. "But what does this have to do with _us_?"

**Fang suspicious of Brigid. Good. He should be.**

**I'm in a good mood, I'll update Becoming You and Me, too.**

**Leave me a review! : )**


	32. Chapter 32

I looked at Brigid, waiting for my answer.

"Frankly, you have unique abilities," she said, bristling just slightly under my intense stare. "The Antarctic is an unpredictable and dangerous place, but someone who can fly to safety can take greater risks."

"But we don't know anything about science." Max jumped right back in, interfering with my little you-just-try-me battle with Brigid. "Or not much, anyway. I mean, we can hack into computers. We know all kinds of other stuff. But we don't know anything about global warming or the Antarctic."

That was true. I looked to Brigid, who was giving her a friendly smile. To someone else, it may have looked genuine, but something about her was unnerving me, so in my eyes it just looked fake. "That's okay. You don't need to become experts overnight. We have some specific jobs we can teach you to do."

"But that's not the only reason you're here," said a voice I hadn't heard yet. I glanced over and saw it was Brian speaking, then returned my gaze to Brigid, watching her every move. "The truth is, you guys are very newsworthy. As soon as you surface, people take note, and you get into all the newspapers. So who better to get the message out to the world?"

_Beep, beep, beep, _went my internal security alarm. With my blog and all, I was used to the 'getting out messages' technique. I also knew that a message could be powerful, and I didn't want to get out the wrong one.

"And what message would that be?" I asked seriously, still watching Brigid.

"That our government needs to take global warming seriously," she said, looking right back at me, facing up to my challenge. "That we need to develop alternative fuel sources, right now. That we need to slash our emissions of greenhouse gases. Plus, we need to do all we can to slow down the extinction by the year 2050 of more than a million species of animals, insects, and plants."

"What if we don't believe all that stuff?" Max asked, hopping back into the conversation. I sighed quietly. Her and her need to be involved with everything concerning the flock. And yeah, I know it's her role as leader. But not when I'm trying to intimidate a young scientist.

Anyway. All the scientists looked fairly surprised at Max's question, and after a moment of surprise, Melanie said, "We won't ask you to do anything you don't believe in. If, after working with us, you don't think what we're doing is worthwhile, then you're free to leave, and you don't have to publicize our cause."

Well, I thought that the message was good enough to stick around for. This global warming stuff, from what they'd told us, seemed pretty serious. That was only part of why I wanted to stick around, though. I needed to keep an eye on Brigid, and without telling Max. She would march up to her and demand answers, and contrary to what she believed, that really is not the most effective way to do everything. So I would be doing this my own way.

"You're free to leave at any time," Brigid said to Max. "The only reason you're here is that Dr. Valencia Martinez recommended you. I took a course from her when I was getting my doctorate, and we've kept in touch. She called me a few days ago."

"Okay," Max said in a tone that meant she'd heard enough for today. "We need to think about this and talk it over; me and the flock, I mean."

"Of course," said Michael, smiling at her. I scowled. "Let us know if you need any more information. Are you guys still hungry?"

"We're always hungry," Nudge said, rubbing her stomach.

"We need between three thousand and four thousand calories a day," Max said with a smirk on her face, knowing this would shock the scientists. "When it's _warm_."

"Um, well, let's see what we can rustle up," Brigid said, standing up and heading to the galley.

I jumped out of my seat and made to follow her. My plan started now. "Thanks. Appreciate it."

We led the way out of the room, and she looked over her shoulder and smiled at me in a way I can only describe as flirtatious. When she faced forward again, I made a face. I was so _not_ into this.

But I needed to go along with it, because I _would_ figure her out.

**I couldn't make Fang actually **_**like**_** Brigid. I just couldn't do it. So this is why he's hanging around with her! : D**

**Review, please!**


	33. Chapter 33

Brigid got us some food, and she, the flock, and a couple of other scientists were gathered in this small galley. There were two benches, and I quickly followed Brigid to one, hoping to start a conversation and get some kind of information. As I squeezed in beside her, I saw two things: _another_ gross, flirtatious smile from Brigid, and a dirty look from Max. I looked at her, trying to tell her with my eyes that I was doing a recon here, but she just glared harder.

What was her problem?

I shook my head, pushing that out of my head for now. While I had a couple sandwiches, I thought about what I should say to prod some information out of Brigid. As I reached for my fourth, I looked at her and said, "You're young to be a doctor."

"I'm twenty-one," she said without hesitating. Maybe she was someone who blurted stuff out without thinking. In that case, this would be made a whole lot easier. "Sort of whizzed through MIT, then got my doctorate at the U of Arizona. In a way, I understand what it feels like to stick out, to be different from everyone else. I finished high school when I was twelve." She laughed nervously, her cheeks tinting red. "People called me a freak. Even my parents didn't know what to do with me."

Okay, I highly doubted being a smart, normal _human_ kid compared with being a freak who grew up in a dog crate. Still, I forced my voice to be sickeningly sympathetic when I said, "That must have been rough." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max staring at me incredulously, knowing I _never_ put that much emotion into a sentence for anyone. Well, except for her.

Melanie said something, and Max answered, but I was concentrating on Brigid. That last sentence had been another bait, encouraging her to elaborate. She surprised me, though, by asking a question of her own. "How old are _you_?"

My eyes instinctively narrowed at someone asking a question about _me_, but I quickly answered, not wanting to let her know I was onto her. "Fourteen. I think. None of us are real sure of our birth dates. But we think Max, Iggy, and I are around fourteen."

"You seem older," Brigid said softly, looking into my face. I quickly turned away, just in time to see Max hopping off the bench across from us. Her face was red, and she was swallowing hard.

"I need some air," she mumbled, and went sprinting out of the galley and up to the deck. I watched her, thinking about the last time I'd seen her running in the opposite direction from me and wondering what I could have _possibly_ done wrong this time.

"Max?" called Sue-Ann. "Are you okay?"

Max didn't answer, though, and I heard her feet pounding as she ran across the deck above us. A second later, everything was quiet, the pounding gone. Max had flown off.

Another thing I was used to.

"Is Max okay?" Nudge asked, sounding freaked out.

"What was _that_ about?" added Iggy, just as confused as I was.

Angel was watching me carefully with her blue eyes, and a moment later I heard her voice in my head. _Do you really not know?_

_No, _I thought back. _No, I really don't_.

"Fang?" Brigid's voice was right by my ear. "What's up with her? I know you two are close…"

I stood up, just as abruptly as Max had. "I don't know," I muttered, and hurried out of the galley, my mind reeling.

**Poor Max. Poor Fang. Poor Fax.**

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	34. Chapter 34

**Here is the second-Faxiest scene in the book! The infamous "always a you and me" scene. Personally, this is where Max should have come to her senses and accepted Fang. But noooo. We had to wait a whole other book!**

**Oh well. At least it happened… finally. **

In my room, I sat down heavily on my bed and rubbed my temples. I was so sick of getting these mixed signals from Max. She wouldn't talk about anything, but she ran away from me, she pushed me away, she got mad for no reason. Nothing added up.

_It adds up,_ Angel said in my mind. _I told you, she loves you._

_What does that have to do with it? _Is it possible to grumble in your thoughts?

The door opened, and I looked over to see Angel standing in the doorway with Celeste tucked under her arm. "She's jealous," she said simply.

"She is not," I muttered, putting my fist in my cheek. "I wish."

"Fang," she said, with the exaggerated patience of someone talking to a small child-- in other words, it should be _me_ using that tone with her, not the other way around. "I told you she loves you. I told you that she's scared of loving you, and that's why she ran away. And because she loves you, she's jealous of you hanging around with Brigid. See? It does all add up."

I thought about it, then realized she was right. It _did_ make sense.

I had to stop this before it got out of hand.

"Good idea, Fang." Angel smiled approvingly. "She's coming back right now. I can hear her thoughts. We'll be in our room. Good luck!"

And with that, she turned and skipped happily out of my room and down to her own.

With a sigh, I got up off the bed and walked to the bottom of the aft stairs. There were voices on the deck, and I recognized one of them as Max's. I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed and waited.

A minute later, Max started down the stairs. Because of the dim lighting, she was only two steps from the bottom when she saw me. By then, it was too late to turn back.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked. "Why'd you take off like that?"

She glared at me and tried to step around me with a cool, "Wanted some air." I grabbed her arms and held her in front of me. Max sighed in defeat and refused to meet my eyes.

I leaned in so our noses were almost touching. When our faces were that close, it was so hard not to kiss her. But I managed to keep myself under control. "Tell me what's going on."

"Nothing," she said, lifting her chin in the air defiantly.

"Max," I said, exasperated. "If you would just talk to me--"

"About _what_? You and me? There _is_ no you and me. Especially when you keep throwing yourself at everything in a skirt!" she snapped.

I stared at her. So she _was _jealous. Angel had been totally right.

That was the first thing to cross my mind. The second was… did she _really_ think that? Did you really believe there was no me and her? Of course there was. It had been _me_ and _her_ for our entire lives. And she could run all she wanted, but that wouldn't change.

I found myself starting to rub her shoulders, trying to convey these thoughts that way, but she jerked away from me. That familiar pang, the one I always felt when she did this, shot through me.

I wasn't going to let her go, though. Not until she understood what needed to be understood. And I was even going to go to extreme lengths to get it done-- using words. "You're wrong, Max," I said lowly, and her face got even redder. "There's a you and me, all right. There will always be a you and me."

Max set her mouth in a thin line and stormed past me, knocking me into the wall. I watched as she went into the girls' room and slammed the door, shutting me out in more ways than one.

**Man, I felt for Fang here. He's basically spelling out his feelings, and Max shoves him off and stomps away. Sigh. Such a naïve young girl…**

**Review? : D**


	35. Chapter 35

**Glad so many people liked last chapter. That was the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter in this story in a long time. Thanks, guys! Appreciate it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or Jordan Sparks' music.**

I stayed in the hallway for a few minutes, wondering why it felt like I'd just lost another battle. Like this was a war or something. Should being in love feel this way-- like you're constantly fighting, constantly losing, constantly bleeding?

_**Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield?**_

I blinked, wondering where that little piece of song came from, then realized it was me remembering something I'd heard when the flock split. We'd been in a store in LA, the song had come on the radio, and it stuck with me, because I was dealing with all my feelings for Max and stuff. If I was being completely honest with myself, that was the bigger reason I left** (A/N: This is my theory. PM me if you wish, and I'll elaborate on it for you)**.But that was the past, and now I had a whole new batch of Max issues to deal with.

I sighed and pushed off the wall, heading down to join the flock in the girls' room. I walked in the door just in time to see Max pointing at Total and saying, "What's wrong with _him_?" She intentionally avoided my eyes, but her face turned bright red.

Angel was sitting with a very depressed-looking Total on her bed. She looked down at him sympathetically. "I think it's Akila."

"Cruelty, thy name is woman!" Total howled, not unlike an actual dog. _Got that right,_ I thought miserably, leaning on the doorframe. "Or rather, dog."

"She won't talk to him," Gazzy said.

"Total, she doesn't talk," Max told him.

He shook his head at her. "She won't even talk to me in the _universal language_."

"French," said Angel like the know-it-all, telepathic mutant bird kid she was.

I was still sort of stuck on the _Cruelty, thy name is woman _remark, and before I actually thought about it, I found myself saying, "Love hurts."

Which of course set Max off. She whirled on me, fuming, and barked, "Oh, shut _up_!"

I held her gaze with an innocent expression on my face, which I knew was just making her angrier. The others were staring at her; the younger kids hadn't heard my comment, so to them Max had just had a random violent outburst. Iggy, however, was smirking, and I really felt like reaching over and smacking that smile right off.

"Let's talk about something interesting," Max muttered, blushing and turning away from me. "What's the problem, Total?"

"She won't give me the time of day," Total sighed. Is it bad when I can feel empathy towards a _dog_ about romantic situations? Yeah, I'd say it is. "I can't blame her. Look at her-- she's purebred, classy, important. _Tall_. I'm… a short mutant with no papers. Always on the run, hanging out with hunted criminals--"

"Hey!" Max said defensively, crossing her arms.

"You've stolen three cars," Total said, holding up his paws. "That I know of. Plus breaking and entering, assault--"

"Okay, okay." Max cut him off, knowing he had a point. "Whatever. Hey, anytime it's too much for you, pal…"

Angel protectively put her arms around him. Within them, Total smiled and said, "And leave you on your own? I'm not a traitor! You need me!"

Max looked like she had a comeback on the tip of her tongue, but Nudge spoke up. "Total, just be nice to Akila. Don't grovel. Just be yourself, but extra thoughtful, polite. Act more like a dog, you know, strong and silenter."

Total was listening to her, mulling it over, and I thought again how messed up this scene was: me and the dog having the same issues with our respective love interests. And flock members giving said dog love advice.

"Now, about the mission," Nudge added, in a more serious, businesslike tone. "I'm all for it! I mean, it's cold here, which sucks, but I like these people. I say we stay for a while."

"Me too!" Gazzy chimed in.

I knew Max was on the fence about it, but I didn't say anything. I wanted to stay, because it was a worthwhile cause, and I had to figure out Brigid. So I just leaned against the wall and nodded when Max said, "All right. Let's stay for a while."

**Review!**


	36. Chapter 36

**This is my third update today! Yeah!**

**Fang isn't in this chapter in the book, it says he's off playing poker… so here's the poker scene. Again, I have no idea how to play poker, so if it's messed up, sorry.**

While the rest of the flock and most of the scientists were on the deck in the cold, I had joined Iggy and Angel in their poker game against Brigid and Brian. When I sat down with them at the small table, Brigid looked up at me and smiled, and I felt mildly ill. I stayed, though, because of my recon, but also because there was this little part of me that saw hanging with Brigid as an alternative to hanging with Max, which I knew would be awkward under the best of conditions.

Unless Max came to her senses and saw that we really should be together. I knew she loved me, too-- the Valium incident played daily through my mind. It was her subconscious talking; that little fact just hadn't made it into her loudest thoughts yet. It would, though. I was confident in that.

"Fang?" Brigid asked, peering at me through long eyelashes. "Your turn."

"Oh. Um… fold." I put my cards down on the table while everyone raised their eyebrows at me.

"What?" I asked, looking around at everyone. Iggy looked smug, Brian was laughing silently, Brigid was smiling, and Angel was grinning like a maniac.

That last one is never a good sign.

"I win," she announced, taking everyone's money and counting it. "Awesome. Hundred and fifty. Bye, guys!" With that, she skipped merrily out of the room, grabbing her heavy coat on the way.

"Well," Brian sighed, standing up and dusting his pants off, "I feel sort of stupid."

"Losing to a six year old?" Iggy asked, starting to push the cards into a pile that was so neat you wouldn't have thought it was made by a blind guy. "Get used to it. When she reads your--"

I kicked him under the table. I didn't know if these people knew about Angel's abilities, but if they didn't, I wasn't about to tell them. Especially not Brigid.

"Er, I mean, she… can read your cards," Iggy said hastily. "Yeah. I mean, she doesn't really, but, um, it's _like_ she can. Yeah."

I ducked my heard, my bangs falling over my eyes so I could roll them. This was the reason Iggy wasn't the one to tell the complex lies when we needed them.

"Hmm," said Brigid, obviously finding this explanation, well, less than explainable.

"Well, I'm going to check out some stats on my computer," Brian said, heading out of the room. "And make that report."

"See you later," Brigid said, smiling at him. As the door shut behind him, she turned to me and Iggy. "Well, what's going on with you two?"

The way she phrased it, I thought she was talking about me and Max, and I instinctively went on guard. Then I realized she meant it in a 'what's up' way, and answered coolly. "Nothing much."

"Really? I heard otherwise," Iggy said, and I elbowed him. He cackled. "You and Max--"

"Shut up," I hissed. "I mean it."

"Fang?" Brigid looked so concerned that I had to remind myself it was probably just an act. "What's going on with you and Max?"

I was tempted not to answer, but again, I remembered I had to look calm, like I wasn't totally onto her every suspicious move. "We just had a little bit of a fight."

"Oh? Over what?"

I shook my head. "It's stupid."

"Their romantic ten--"

"Iggy!" I muttered. "Shut. Up. I mean it."

"Romantic… tension?" Brigid raised her eyebrows in surprise, but it looked sort of like she was faking it to me. _That's impossible_, I told myself. _She couldn't possibly know anything about me and Max. That's just… impossible._

"It's not important," I said, standing up. I started heading toward the door. "Ig, let's--"

"No, wait." Brigid moved over to me as Iggy hurried out of the room, anticipating something he apparently didn't want to be part of. "I want to talk to you."

**Review?**


	37. Chapter 37

**Here's the next part of that made-up scene-- Fang's not in this chapter in the book, either.**

"What is it?" I asked, totally on guard. As I've made clear by now, I did _not_ trust this chick.

"What's going on between you and Max?" Brigid asked softly.

I fixed a steely glare on her, starting to head toward the door. "It doesn't really concern you."

"Fang." She caught my arm, and I looked at her. If I fought and showed what I was fully capable of, it could be used against me. That was the same reason we didn't like to tell people who were our "allies" about our powers-- just in case they turned on us. "I consider you my friend, and Max too. But also, we're co-workers now. If something is keeping you two from working well together, I need to know."

I hesitated. I wasn't going to tell her for the first reason, us being friends, or for the second reason, us being co-workers. But that piece of me, the one that wanted to hang out with Brigid so I wouldn't be with Max, fueled my saying, "Okay."

"Okay." She smiled and let go of my elbow, taking her seat back at the table. I followed, reluctantly, regretting this already. "So let's start from the beginning. You and Max are close?"

"Yes." I couldn't bolt, but if I was careful, I could get out of this relatively unscathed. It was like trying to slide under a giant needle, but it was doable. Barely.

"I heard," Brigid said, clearly piecing her sentence carefully, "that you had a brother-sister type of relationship. Is that not accurate?"

_No, it's called the we're-in-love-but-_someone_-is-too-stubborn-to-admit-it type of relationship,_ I thought, pulling a quick face and then returning to my emotionless façade. "Not really. We're too close for that."

"I see," she said, nodding, even though she didn't. I mean, she may have thought she did, but it was impossible for her to really get it. Only Max and I could do that. It was too complicated, it was too personal, it was too-- _us_. Whatever was between the two of us was a rare thing-- being able to read each other's minds better than somebody who was actually telepathic and all that. "How long as-- you know-- been going on?"

I widened my eyes, looking all innocent. "How long has _what_ been going on?"

Brigid shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, you know. When things got… different with Max."

"Maybe a year." I shrugged, really hating myself for getting into this discussion. The questions were coming mercilessly, and I didn't even know the answers myself. Surely my confused teenage guy thoughts would lead to slipping something that wasn't meant to be slipped.

"Have you kissed her?"

The question was so abrupt, it shocked me. And then, once I processed it, it hit all kinds of sore spots. I jumped up, knocking my chair back. "I gotta go," I mumbled, and strode out of that room. My hands were in my pockets, giving me a casual appearance even though I was suddenly really, really tense.

Why did everybody want to fall in love so bad? You just get hurt in the end. What's the probability that two individuals about of six _billion_ will fall in love with _each other_?

That was my main thought as I trudged up to the deck, but then this little voice-- not a Voice, but a smaller part of me-- in my mind said, _Based on your own life, you should like the chances. Because it happened to you._

**Stupid Brigid… stop meddling!**

**: )**


	38. Chapter 38

**And, this is in the book. But with added-in Faxness that does not exist in the actual book. Yay!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still do not own Maximum Ride.**

"Land ahoy!" Gazzy shouted in my ear. I winced, moving away from him.

"It should be visible pretty soon," said Michael, leaning forward. I didn't say anything, but it was already visible. Maybe just to us, I guess. "The air is so clear here that we get great visibility."

"It's visible now." Max voiced what I kept to myself, like always. "We have really good eyesight. Like hawks."

He and a couple other scientists standing off to the side nodded wordlessly, slight jealousy showing on their faces. With all the running we had to do, it had never occurred to me that we really were sort of special, with all our abilities. To humans, it must be hard to watch us and know they couldn't do nearly as much as we could.

Max returned her gaze to the horizon, and I kept my eyes on her profile, just watching it. The wind was blowing hard, whipping her hair around her head. The cold had turned her cheeks sort of rosy, but not totally flushed.

Damn, she was beautiful.

And that little piece of knowledge was mine.

I mean, I know anybody-- well, not Iggy-- could see her, see that she was a pretty girl, but nobody else loved her the way I did. _Nobody_. So the way I saw her, the way my heart fluttered when she smiled, or how I was fascinated by watching her hair blow in the wind, that was only available to me. Because of that, her beauty was, like, magnified in my eyes.

Everybody could see how pretty she was, but nobody could see how _beautiful_ she was.

I moved away from Gazzy, suddenly wanting to be close to Max. I mean, I wasn't going to _kiss_ her, not on this deck with people surrounding us, but I needed to be with her.

As I approached, I realized Michael was talking about something, but his voice was just background noise as I got closer to Max. When _she_ spoke, though, I heard it loud and clear. "That's so weird."

"What's weird?" I asked, coming right up behind her. She jumped and whirled, tripping over her own feet on the way. She started to fall into me, and I instinctively caught her around the waist. Then we were staring at each other, her still leaning against me for support, my arms around her.

Max coughed, pushing off of me and straightening her coat. Her face got bright red, which was adorable, too. "Um, that it doesn't snow here. Not a lot of precipitation."

I nodded, sticking my hands in my pockets and stepping up to stand beside her at the rail. The puffy sleeves of our jackets brushed, but she immediately moved hers away. Sighing inwardly, I tried not to show my frustration and covered with, "Brigid says the air here is some of the driest on earth." She _had_ said that. After she tried to interrogate me about Max a couple days earlier, I had avoided her for a few hours before she came to apologize and promise she would respect my privacy from now on. I had "accepted" and started working with her again-- continuing my recon.

"I guess you'll be glad to get off the boat," Michael said. I looked to my right suddenly, totally forgetting he was even there. "We'll be staying in the guest quarters at the Lucir station. They get tourists there every year."

I immediately went on guard and looked to Max. She bit her lip-- is it weird I wanted to kiss that worry line off her forehead?-- and said, "I didn't realize we'd be around a bunch of other people."

"There are twelve permanent families who live and work here," Michael told her, raising his binoculars to his eyes. "About forty people in all."

Max and I locked eyes, the communication between us as strong as ever, the message clear: keep an eye out.

**Enough forced Faxness for you? : )**

**Review, please!**


	39. Chapter 39

**We're on a stretch here where Fang and Max aren't really talking… so… here's a mostly made-up chapter:**

"What was that deal with Brigid the other day?" asked Iggy.

We were in Antarctica now, standing away from the rest of the flock. I was looking at the miles and miles of white all around us, watching the snow drift from one spot to another. When he asked the question, I immediately stiffened.

"She was poking around in my personal life," I said simply.

"_I_ poke around in your personal life," he pointed out, turning to face a different direction-- why, I wasn't sure; it wasn't like he could see anything.

"And I enjoy that _so_ much." I rolled my eyes.

"The point is," Iggy said, turning again and rubbing one eye, "that you'll at least talk to me. I mean, not always happily. And you don't usually say much. And… okay, so you don't appreciate me poking around in your personal life, do you?"

I sighed. "It's just bad enough to experience."

"According to Angel, Max loves you," he said, rubbing the other eye. I squinted, trying to see if he was crying, but he wasn't. Then I digested what he said.

"Angel told you that?"

"Angel told _you_ that?" Iggy grimaced. "Oops. I thought I was going to tell you something that would, you know, make you feel better. But if you already know… guess not."

"Dude, shut up," I growled, and then changed the subject. "So what's up with your eye?"

His expression immediately turned serious, and he faced a different direction. "They feel weird again. I don't know--"

Stopping in his tracks, his eyes got wide, and they _looked_ different, too. I stepped closer, examining his face. Somehow, I knew what had happened, but still I asked, "What is it?"

Iggy kept staring straight ahead. "I… I can _see_."

I automatically turned to look for Max. She was standing with Sue-Ann and the rest of the flock a few feet away. When her eyes met mine, I nodded at Iggy, and she started over to us.

"Gosh, lots of… white, huh?" she asked, coming up beside me. Her cheeks were that rosy color, and she started hopping from foot to foot. I thought about putting my arms around her-- she _might_ buy the excuse that I wanted to keep her warm-- but then reminded myself that we had a bigger issue right now, and that was Iggy's eyesight.

"Yeah…" he answered her, his eyes getting huger and huger by the second.

"You're actually not missing that much, Ig," Max said, not catching on to his odd behavior. "It's not like other places, where there's tons of different stuff to see. Everything here is pretty much white. Lots of sharp white edges."

I reached out and tapped the back of her glove-covered hand. She looked at me, and I motioned toward Iggy.

He looked over at her, a slow smile beginning to stretch across his face. "I know. I can see it."

**As you are well aware, I love reviews!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Hey, guys, guess what? Chapter 37 was the halfway point! We're more than halfway done with this book! Whoo!**

**Considering this is Chapter 40, this is a belated announcement… but… oh well. : )**

Max stared at him, then raised her hand and waved it in Iggy's eyes.

He recoiled, blinking. "What are you _doing_?"

Max's jaw dropped, and I laughed out loud, which is just about as rare as Gazzy going a day without farting. Iggy starting to smile and laugh with me, and Max gave him a quick hug, her happiness making her all the more beautiful.

Gazzy came running up behind me, having seen the sudden laughter and hugs. "What's going on?"

"Iggy can _see_," Max said excitedly, backing away from Iggy and closer to my side.

Iggy turned to Gazzy, then paused, his face still. My stomach started to sink-- I just had a feeling I knew what had happened. The eyesight had been short-lived.

"It's… it's gone," he said, his voice breaking.

"What?" Max asked, furrowing her brow.

"You could see?" Gazzy sounded puzzled.

I felt really bad for Iggy as he hung his head and turned back around. As soon as he was facing us again, though, he looked up. "No! I can see again! I see the white mountains again!"

Okay, this was weird. Maybe if he was only facing a certain direction…

"You can see white," Max concluded suddenly. "You can see the mountains, and me and Fang because we're in front of them, but not Gazzy because he's in front of those red houses."

"Oh," he said slowly. "That makes sense."

"Of course it does," she said, rolling her eyes. "I said it."

Iggy walked out a little, looking at what he could see. Max crossed her arms; she was practically shaking with cold. I moved closer to her, my heart starting to thud as I contemplated what I was about to do, and then I slid my arm around her waist, pulling her into my side.

She stared at me. "What are you doing?"

"You looked cold," I said with a shrug, trying to look casual. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I saw her roll her eyes.

"This is crazy," Iggy was saying, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can, like, halfway see. It's so--"

"I'm cold," Max interrupted him, spinning out of my arm. Frankly, I was surprised she stayed there as long as she did. Maybe she was secretly enjoying it was much as I was. "Let's go inside."

We headed back over to Lucir station and climbed up the stairs to one of those big metal buildings. Iggy was grumbling under his breath, but I didn't catch what he said-- Max and I were walking side by side, which was distracting me.

We met Brigid, who introduced us to some other scientists, and then she led us to our quarters. It was basically one big room, with a bunch of bunk beds, a couch and recliner, small bathroom, and a small kitchen with an oven, microwave and table.

"Okay," Brigid said after we got settled in. "You guys want to see some penguins?"

"Yeah," Iggy griped, feeling his way over to an empty bunk. "Make 'em stand against a white cliff."

Max and I, who were on opposite sides of the room, exchanged a glance. _What_ was going on with Iggy's eyes?

**Review, please?**


	41. Chapter 41

**Hey, guys. I had some inquiries about the arm-around-the-waist thing last chapter, people saying they didn't remember that part and wondering if I had added it in-- I did. There was a little part in the chapter where it just said "we stood around for a while," so I decided to add some details in there.**

**Okay, well, this is a made up chapter!! It reveals more of my little subplot… might surprise ya! : )**

Brigid locked the door to the tiny room, then listened carefully for footsteps. Hearing none, she tiptoed over to the small desk, placed her laptop on it, and pulled up the webcam.

As she pulled out a chair and sunk down into it, footsteps sounded in the hall outside. Brigid froze and listened as someone attempted to open the door, then grunted and pulled out some jangling keys.

_Oh, crap…_

"Brigid?" Michael asked, scrunching up his eyebrows as he pushed open the door. "What're you doing here?"

She went to close her laptop before he could see anything, then noticed he had his own computer tucked under his arm. "Wait, wait, wait," Brigid said. "What are _you_ doing in here?"

"What are you talking about?" Michael gave her an uneasy smile.

"You're coming to this isolated back room," she said, narrowing her eyes and wondering if someone was aware of her betrayal and had sent Michael to counter it. "With your computer. Why?"

He hesitated, looking nervous, and then Brigid's computer screen dinged. Her eyes widened as Mr. Chu came into focus on the webcam, and she hoped he saw Michael.

He did, but his response wasn't what she had expected. "Ah, you two have met each other. Good."

Brigid and Michael exchanged a glance, then turned back to Mr. Chu. "Huh?" Michael asked, sitting in the chair beside Brigid.

"I was going to introduce you two today, anyway," he explained. "Up until now, your missions have been operating independently. Now, I believe it is time to being a joint mission."

"What are you talking about?" Brigid asked, looking over at Michael. "What's _his_ mission?"

"To woo Maximum Ride away from Fang," Mr. Chu said simply.

"Are you _serious_?" Brigid burst out laughing, and Michael turned red. "I can tell you right now, he has _not_ been fulfilling that mission."

"I haven't had an opportunity," he mumbled, embarrassed.

"Quiet!" demanded Mr. Chu. "Brigid, how's it going with Fang?"

Now Michael sniggered. "He's giving her the cold shoulder."

"He is not." She lifted her chin, trying to appear confident. "I have him right where I want him, sir."

"And Michael? Max?"

"I have her right where I want her, too, sir. She trusts me completely."

"Well done. That's the first step. Brigid, from what Michael's said, it seems that you've missed that part." Mr. Chu raised his eyebrows at her, and she sighed. "I'll check back in at a later date. By then, I want some real progress made. Understood?"

They both nodded, and the screen went black. Silence fell over the pair for a few seconds, and then Brigid said, "So how did _you_ get enlisted in this? You have 'nice guy' written all over you."

Michael shrugged. "That's what made me good for the job, I guess. The last person anyone would expect. So why are you here?"

"The age factor," she sighed. "I was the youngest qualified scientist he could find."

"Ah." Michael nodded, standing up and grabbing his own computer. "Well, we'll certainly be rich after this."

"We will," she agreed, and they exchanged a look, agreeing to an alliance, before they slipped out of the room.

**So what do you think of that?**

**Tell me! Review!**


	42. Chapter 42

**Okay, so mostly made up. Again. But the end's real!**

**And, hmm… enjoy!**

The next day, we were standing around, basically staring at some penguins. The scientists had equipment and notebooks and stuff, but the flock wasn't doing much. Which was fine with me, but made me wonder why exactly we were there.

Actually, _Max_, of all people, had made herself useful and was glancing from the penguins to her notebook, writing down observations. She hadn't even wanted to come here. I wondered if, like me, she was being cooperative in order to get information.

"Look at this! I'm a penguin!" Angel called merrily. As I turned to look at her, Brigid came up on my left side. I pretended not to notice, watching Angel slide across the snow, toward a huddle of penguins.

"Fang?" Brigid asked timidly. I tried not to sigh in exasperation as I turned to look at her. "Can we talk?"

"About what?" Even though I knew the answer, I wanted to make her say it. I looked back out at the flock just in time to see the Gasman throwing himself on the ground and going after her.

She cleared her throat nervously. "The other day, when I started asking you about Max? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked so many… personal questions. It's not any of my business, even if we are coworkers."

Totally determined not to forgive her, partly out of anger and partly because I was afraid I'd let her into my friendship issues again, I kept looking straight ahead. Brigid bristled beside me, then gently took my arm. My automatic reflexes made me jerk away from her, then look over my shoulder to see if Max had noticed. Thankfully, she was writing away in that notebook.

"Listen," I hissed under my breath. "If I'm going to work with you guys, you can't… act this way around me. Okay?"

"What way?" she asked innocently.

"You know what way," I snapped, and she looked down guiltily. I rarely got mad enough to be acting like such a jerk, but Brigid had gone too far-- first with the questions, now with touching my arm.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but then stopped and stared at something. I quickly followed her gaze just in time to see some sort of _thing_, a sea creature, I guess, rising up out of the ocean. The penguins that had been gathered there were scattering as the monster got bigger and bigger, and then bit down on Sue-Ann's leg, dragging her completely under the water.

**Sorry, it's shortish, next one's longer. Review!**


	43. Chapter 43

**Action scene… not my favorite thing in the world to write. Actually, one of my least favorites. So perhaps to make up for all the fun I did not have writing this chapter, I added the end. I don't know. But it leads into next chapter, which you guys will like-- I think. Hee hee.**

"Oh my…" Brigid gasped quietly, and I had to agree. That monster had been like nothing I'd ever seen before-- not at the School, not at Itex, nowhere.

"Leopard seal!" Brian shouted, dropping everything he was holding and running to the edge of the ocean. "Get help! Get Paul and the others!"

Brigid spun and immediately began running back to the station, and I snapped my eyes over to look at Max. She was yelling at the flock as they started to run in the same direction as Brigid. Then our eyes met, and I started moving toward her.

"It'll thrash her around in the water till she's dead!" Brian yelled, completely freaking out. He looked out at the ocean. "Sue! Hang on!"

Max spun, her hair flying with her head-- that made her look so much like a hot heroine in an action movie-- and yelled, "Come on!"

She unfurled her wings and fly out over the ocean, and I followed right on her heels. I could see the shadow of the leopard seal beneath the rippling water, hear Sue-Ann's bloodcurdling screams.

"Grab her as soon as it comes up again," Max told me, and I nodded. For all my suspicion of Brigid, I'd felt like Sue-Ann had always seemed to genuinely care about us and the cause. While I wouldn't feel too bad about seeing Brigid get devoured by a sea creature, I might feel bad about Sue-Ann.

Max pointed, her mouth moving, but her voice was snatched away by the heavy wind. I looked down just in time to see the leopard seal rise up out of the water. Sue-Ann was unconscious, dangling in midair while the seal clutched her leg with its teeth. Max and I charged downward, and I swung my boot at the seal's head. Max kicked it in the back, and its mouth opened in surprise, dropping Sue-Ann like a rock. We left the seal to grab her, each of us holding one arm, and started flying toward the infirmary building.

Max and I landed and struggled to keep Sue-Ann upright while we waited for someone to come. The snow around us was red with her blood, and she wasn't responding to any of our nudges or pokes. I started to tell Max that I didn't think she was alive, but the look on her face told me she already knew.

Two doctors came running, pushing a stretcher. Once they reached us, I backed away. Max stayed where she was, watching with wide eyes as one guy took her pulse, and I gently took her wrist to pull her back beside me.

"What-- what's that?" one of the doctors asked, pointing at Sue-Ann's leg.

The other guy moved the torn pants out of the way, and wires and cables came into view. I squinted, confused, then realized they were _in_ her leg.

Oh, man.

"What the heck is that?" Paul asked, kneeling down beside the infirmary guy. "Does anyone know about this?"

"I got no pulse here, chief. She's gone," the doctor said.

The rest of the scientists came running, the flock following close behind. Max had gone still, her face panicked, running through everything she'd told Sue-Ann that could-- and would-- be used against us.

The scientists must have seen her face, too, because they stopped their happy, excited praise of our rescue. They caught sight of Sue-Ann, of her wired leg, and their faces fell.

Paul sighed and stood up. "Brian. Get Sue-Ann's computer. Search her quarters."

"Oh, no," Melanie whispered, beginning to cry.

"You all," Paul said, indicating the flock, "get inside, out of sight. You others--" He pointed to the scientists. "Search the rest of the _Wendy K._, the guest quarters here, the mess hall, anywhere there might be hidden cameras. We've had a traitor among us."

Beside me, Max closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The word _traitor_ had applied to too many people in our lives, including her father, for it to be uttered without painful memories being stirred. As the flock started toward the building, she stayed put, and I gently touched her hair. "Come on, Max."

She looked at me with sad eyes, then nodded and let me lead her away, my hand protectively squeezing her shoulder. This time, she didn't push me away. I almost wished she would, though, because that would mean she was okay.

**Review?**


	44. Chapter 44

**This is made up, but it's important! And so is next chapter! Wow, I can't wait for you guy's reaction to next chapter…**

Once we got back to the station, I started to head to our quarters, where we were supposed to be hiding. I could hear the rest of the flock rustling around in there. As I turned in that direction, though, I felt Max's shoulder slip from under my hand.

"Max--?" I asked, turning just in time to see her hurrying toward the mess hall. Cursing under my breath, I followed behind-- whatever trouble she was about to get herself into, she wasn't going to face it alone. "Max!"

Either she couldn't hear me or she was ignoring me. I quickened my steps, and she entered the mess. In the flash I had of the room before the door swung shut, I could see Michael Papa moving around inside.

A minute later, I was pushing through the swinging double doors, ready to collect my stupid best friend and leave-- rebelling against authority, I was all for, but in this case, authority was right. We _needed _to stay out of sight in case there were hidden cameras.

Duh.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw Michael and Max, over on one side of the room. Max was inspecting the wall, not paying attention to Michael, but he certainly was _not_ searching for anything suspicious. He _was_ the suspicion, the way he was watching Max intently, one hand reaching out toward her back, getting closer.

I froze, wondering what I should do. Attack him? Claw his eyes out? Quietly leave? Personally, I liked the first two options best. But in the end, I did none of these things, instead staying and watching as his hand grazed the small of her back, then settled there. Max jumped and looked up, her eyes showing shock and, if only a hint of it, fear.

Time for the silent hero to step in.

"Hey," I said loudly. Both of them spun around, different expressions on their faces: Max's relieved, Michael's guilty. Actually, Michael looked _truly_ guilty, like he seriously felt bad, and for a second I felt slightly less nervous. Then the image of him pawing _my_ Max flashed through my mind, and I wanted to kill him again.

"Hey," Michael said, smiling nervously. "No cameras here."

"Like hell there aren't," I snarled, taking a couple steps toward them. Max quickly walked over to me, away from Michael. When she was close enough, I put my arm around her and drew her to me. She actually stayed, even laying her head on my shoulder. I thought again how I sort of wanted her to push me away, because the only reason she wasn't was because she was hurting. "Watch it, man."

With that and one final glare, I turned, bringing Max with me, and we left the mess hall. Once out of Michael's sight, she shrugged me off.

"Max," I said softly. She sighed, but looked over at me. "What was that about?"

"I don't know." She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "He just… I don't know. It won't happen again. I'll make sure of it."

"Shouldn't I--"

"No, Fang." Max cut me off and stopped walking. I stopped, too, and stood looked at her. "Look, it doesn't matter. It's over. Thanks for helping me out. But I've got it now."

I watched her spin on her heel and march to her room. I was so sick of this: trying to be there for her, protect her, and her acting like I was doing something wrong. Maybe I should just stop trying to make amends with her.

Even if I stopped doing that, though, I knew I could never stop protecting her. No matter what she may think, she needed me. And I needed to take care of her.

I couldn't live with myself if I didn't.

**Please, please, please, with a cherry on top… review!**


	45. Chapter 45

**I'm so excited to post this chapter. Teehee. Enjoy.**

After the incident with Michael, Max wasn't talking to me any more than she had been before it. I thought about trying to have a conversation with her, then remembered the last one we'd had and decided against it. Maybe Angel was right. Maybe she just needed some time to think.

In the meantime, I was still hanging around with Brigid. It wasn't exactly _comfortable_, but it was a hell of a lot more comfortable than being with Max. I never thought I'd say that about anybody-- that I could talk to them more easily than I could talk to Max-- but with Brigid, it sure was true. Not that I _wanted_ to spend more time with her. It was just an easy way to avoid Max.

Now, I stood by with my hands in my pockets while Brigid opened Sue-Ann's laptop on her desk and started hitting keys. Nothing happened. "She locked this up good," she muttered, lifting up the computer to peer at the bottom.

I nodded, not that she saw me with her back turned. Secretly, I had hoped that with the discovery of Sue-Ann's betrayal, Max would grab the flock and leave, and we could go back on the run, just the six of us against the world. No more Brigid interfering with my most important friendship, no more thirty-year-old man trying to make a move on Max. The way things used to be, when we could sit in a clearing on watch together, talking quietly, her head on my shoulder, nothing weird between us at all.

I missed those days.

"Fang?"

I snapped to attention, focusing on Brigid's quizzical expression. "Sorry. What?"

"I asked if you had picked up on anything suspicious from Sue-Ann, especially in the last few days," she said. "I certainly didn't. This is just _shocking_ to me."

_Your ability to act, or lack thereof, is shocking to _me_, _I thought. Out loud, I said, "Nah, nothing."

"Do you know if Max noticed anything?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

I hesitated. It used to be that Max and I could drop whatever fight or conflict we were having in order to work together to keep the flock, and each other, safe. And after the battle or whatever, we usually were reminded of what was really important enough that we made up and got our friendship back on track. That didn't appear to be the case anymore, and that scared me. We seemed dangerously close to another flock split.

Finally, I said, "I really don't know," because I didn't. If she'd seen anything, I'm not sure she would have told me.

As if able to see all my thoughts of the past few seconds, Brigid shot me a sympathetic look and got up out of her seat. _Uh-oh, _I thought, already getting a bad feeling in my stomach.

"You know," she began, walking over to me, "I like Max, but for some reason, I find you _much_ more likable."

With every step she took forward, I was taking one back. "Really," I said.

"Yeah. I mean, you're much more-- I don't know. Friendly? Surely you get sick of hanging out with someone so guarded and hostile. Just being around her a few hours a day is enough for me. I mean--"

I only needed the fifteen seconds it took her to utter that sentence to accumulate more anger than I _ever_ had before. "You don't talk about Max like that."

Brigid turned some version of the Bambi eyes on me. "But Fang--"

"No! I'm not going to stand here and listen to you--"

Then I was cut off. And not because I stopped myself. No. That was Brigid, taking one last step and closing the space between us, crashing her lips onto mine.

"What the hell?!" I wrenched away from her and started wiping my mouth off on my sleeve. "What the hell was that?"

"Fang, I--"

She said something else, but I couldn't even hear her. My thoughts were running too fast. Emotions were bubbling up inside me and spilling over, too many to count, all of them sharing one thing: they were not positive vibes. One feeling prevailed above the rest, though: guilt. Even though it wasn't my fault-- I hadn't even _wanted_ to kiss Brigid-- I still felt like I'd betrayed Max, which was also stupid because she didn't like it when I kissed _her_. Still, just shook my head and backed out of that room, still wiping off my mouth and contemplating these feelings.

"Fang!" Brigid called after me once more as I started down the hall, but I didn't turn. Because I knew who I loved, and who I _wanted_ to love, and it definitely wasn't her.

**Well, I'm expecting some fired up reviews after that little display! : )**


	46. Chapter 46

**Oh, geez, sorry I haven't updated the last two days, guys! I spent this weekend getting my Christmas break assignment out of the way because I didn't want to work on my time off, so I didn't really have time to write or update. Fortunately, this one is longer than usual, hope that makes up for it!**

Holy _shit_.

I could not believe Brigid tried to _kiss_ me. Like a… like a… creepy pedophile!

I kept trying to tell myself that it didn't matter, I'd pushed her away and yelled at her and she wouldn't be trying it again, but every time, the memory of her chapped lips landing forcefully on mine came back at full force. And so did that large bubble of guilt, the one that told me _nobody_ should be kissing me but Max. It kept me up most of the night and made me quiet and reserved-- well, more so than usual, anyway-- the next day.

"Where are we going?"

I looked up at Nudge's voice, realized she wasn't talking to me, and looked in front of me again. We were out flying, just doing checking out the area in light of Sue-Ann's betrayal, though I wasn't helping out much, too reoccupied with my jumbled thoughts.

Max told Nudge what we were doing, and I watched her turn her face up to the bitterly cold wind. There were big slits in her huge parka, but while I looked like a marshmallow-- a black marshmallow, that is-- she looked as beautiful as ever. I wondered if she looked that way to everyone, or if it was just my biased lovesick thoughts.

Sensing me looking at her, she glanced over at me, then angled herself so fly closer to me. Every time our wings brushed on the down stroke, I shivered. "So," she said, "I guess we can assume that Sue-Ann was sending updates of our whereabouts to someone."

Of course she would want to talk about leader stuff. Never mind the fact that we were both secretly in love but each was too stubborn to tell the other, and we were both the targets of pedophiles. Yeah, let's just _ignore_ that little tidbit of information. "Brigid's trying to hack into her computer for more info," I said, my voice coming out kind of glum.

Anger flashed in her eyes, and she scowled. "Nudge should do it," she said irritably.

I tried not to roll my eyes, because she'd have my head. Seriously, I was trying to talk battle with her, and she had to turn it around and make it a jealousy thing. I was so sick of _women_!

"Yeah-- if Brigid can't get in, we'll have Nudge take a whack at it," I said coolly, knowing it would tee Max off even more. And it did, as I could see by the narrowing of her eyes.

I don't know what she was going to say next, but it was probably good that Gazzy chose that moment to interrupt. "Can we go over the islands? There's a volcano in the middle of one! In fact, the whole island is the volcano."

Max cast me one last glance at me, then flew back over toward the flock, shaking her head slightly. "Sure," she called to Gazzy, and we all shifted direction.

_Maybe you shouldn't hang out with Brigid anymore, Fang, _Angel thought. _You're going to lose your lady._

_I never _had_ my lady, _I thought back grouchily. _And Max can't dictate who I hang out with_.

_Still--_

"Maybe I could ride with Fang?" Total asked, which made me focus on his request and not on my telepathic conversation with Angel. I shook my head at him.

"I can still _fly_," Iggy snapped, whacking the dog lightly on the back of the head. "I can still _navigate_."

"Oh, so cool!" Gazzy yelled, looking down at the island. I looked down, too, but it didn't look like anything special to me. I yawned, and Max glared at me.

"That water in the middle is where the volcano blew up," the Gasman told us as we descended. How he knew this, I didn't know, and didn't really want to. I could understand why _he_, of all people, was interested in things exploding.

That's in terms of both bombs _and_ bodily functions, folks.

"Thermal!" Max yelled joyfully when we entered some warmer air. It did feel nice, but not as nice as watching her face light up like that.

"Something's bubbling below," Angel said, pointing at some kind of… crap.

"Let's check it out," Max said, and, after checking for other people, we landed.

I looked around. It sure was a weird place, probably abandoned by people who had been here-- Eskimos or something. There was a sign with "Protected by the Deception Island Management Group" written on it, so maybe it had historical artifacts. Or maybe the group was just a bunch of tree-huggers.

We stood in silence for awhile, looking at the surface-of-the-moon-like ground, before Max said, "Watch where you step, guys. Don't get scorched by a geyser or anything."

"There aren't any geysers here," Nudge said, turning toward the bubbling water in the middle of the island. "But steam is boiling up through the water."

"There's been a lot of people here," I said, motioning to the sign, which also had warnings written on it in a bunch of languages.

"Deception Island." Max read the name and smiled beautifully. Man, I missed seeing that smile. "What a cool name. It sounds like where we should live." She paused, then added, "If we wanted to live in a barren wasteland."

"'S not barren," Angel said defiantly. I looked at her, confused.

Beside her, Nudge started taking off her boots, and Max crossed her arms. "What are you doing?"

She tugged off her hat, her scarf, and her heavy coat, leaving them on the ground at her feet. "Hot bath! Those dinky little showers back at the station ain't cutting it."

"Look," Angel said, tilting her head back and pointing up to the blue sky. I followed her finger and saw these humongous _birds_, bigger than us, flying a ways off.

"What are they?" Max asked, tilting her head back too. Her hair fell off her shoulders, falling down her back, glinting in the sun.

"Wandering albatrosses," Nudge said matter-of-factly, now wearing only her long thermal underwear and a tank top, as she slowly lowered herself into the water. "Sailors used to think they held the souls of dead sailors. Oh, my God, this water feels fantastic!"

"Be careful," Max said, making no move to join her. Damn, I kind of wanted to see her in her tank top… "The water might suddenly turn boiling or something."

"I'm going in too," Total said, his voice barely registering in my brain because I was still thinking about that tank top.

_Fang, _scolded Angel. _I heard that. Max wouldn't like that._

_Shut up and watch the albatrosses, _I said, a scowl appearing on my actual face.

_That wasn't nice. If you tell me to shut up again, I'll tell Max what you're thinking about._

_No! Angel! _I had felt her leave my head, and then I felt her come back in. About ten feet away from me, she giggled out loud. _I won't be mean to you, just don't tell Max._

_Heehee. Okay, Fang._

"Oh, my God!" Nudge suddenly yelled, and I instinctively went into a fighting stance, checking around me for whatever it was she'd seen. Max ran over to the water, asking, "What's wrong?"

I went over to them, peering over Max's shoulder at Nudge and Total. Totally oblivious to the flock's stares, he said dreamily, "Man, this is heaven on my paws. They get so cold… Maybe little boots…"

_Holy shit, _I thought for the second time in the last twenty minutes as I stared at the _wings_ poking out of Total's back. Still clueless, he stretched his small head backward and said, "You gotta try this. If I had a martini right now, I'd never come out."

_Tank top…_

_Fang!_

_Sorry._

Max looked over her shoulder at me, shaking her head in wonder. I raised my eyebrows in return.

"What?" Total snapped, finally catching on.

"Uh, Total?" Max said tentatively. "You're growing wings."

**This chapter was from the book but had some bonus-type stuff, in case you don't recognize a lot of it. : ) Review!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Okay, guys, here's the deal. I really want to finish this, and BYAM, but I can feel that I'm losing interest. If you look at my profile, you'll see that I have lots of different stories for lots of different sections. This is because I go through phases where I'm just absolutely obsessed with something, and then it goes away and I may or may not ever think about it again. Maximum Ride has been my current obsession since about May, and it's going away now. That's just how it rolls with me.**

**Nevertheless, I am determined to finish both this story and BYAM. I'm telling you this, though, just in case I stop updating this story daily.**

**Okay, so now that you know that… here's the next chapter! (With some forced Faxness.)**

The next morning, as I was staring in absolute wonder at Total's bowl on the floor, next to Akila's-- at his _request_!-- Michael Papa came into the room, and I had a sudden urge to punch him. Feeling me tense, Max lay her hand on mine beneath the table, squeezing in a 'calm down' kind of way.

"Okay," Michael said, smiling as if he was just so freaking _innocent_, just working for the _good of the cause_. "Let's go over some things."

_Yes, let's, _I thought icily. Max squeezed my hand again, harder, and now I grasped it back. That was the only thing keeping me from jumping up and strangling Michael. I was so overcome with rage that I couldn't even enjoy the feeling of Max's warm palm against mine. And that is saying something.

"We have to press on with our work, despite Sue-Ann's betrayal," he went on, not sounding all that torn up about Sue-Ann. "Today you guys will accompany some of the scientists here, do a little exploring. But you have to remain extra on-guard."

Beside me, Max nodded tightly, obviously trying to retain her own anger. I held her hand tighter, keeping her in her seat.

"You were helping document the status of our local penguin colony before Sue-Ann was attacked," Michael added. "Today you'll go with Emily and Brigid--" Ugh, that name. "--as they take measurements and examine different ice layers. The chemical concentrations of the ice layers tell us a great deal about the history of the atmosphere in this area."

"But before we set out, we need to go over some safety issues," Brigid cut in.

I tried not to glare at her; I didn't want Max to know that Brigid was currently my least favorite person on the planet, because then she'd say _I told you so_. Which is almost worse than being rejected by her.

Almost.

Max's jaw tightened, and she tried to draw her hand away from mine, but I held tight. Brigid kept talking, not noticing this. "Obviously, this is an extreme environment. We do have dangers here, as you have seen. For example, what would you do if you suddenly realized you were lost? A lot of the terrain looks the same."

At a questioning of her instincts and problem-solving skills, the slightest suggestion she wouldn't be able to handle anything thrown at her, Max was on her way out of her chair. I kept her hand in mine and used my free one to grab her waist and pull her back down. "Chill," I muttered in her ear.

She inhaled deeply, but obliged, replying tightly, "I'd fly up till I could see the station. Then head back to it."

The scientists stared as if this wasn't an obvious answer.

"Okay," Brigid said, bothered by Max not going along with the way this was supposed to work. "That would work. Now, there aren't that many crevasses, but they can be extremely dangerous. If you happen to fall into one--"

"I would fly back out of it?" Max asked, as if talking to a little kid. I ducked my head to hide my smirk.

"Um, yeah. Okay, you know the penguins aren't dangerous, nor are any of the other birds here, though you should stay away from nests. And of course there are no polar bears."

We both nodded, Nudge and Angel turning glum at a reminder that where we were did not contain what they had wanted to see.

"But as you saw, leopard seals can on occasion attack. We recommend staying at least twenty meters away from them at all times. But if you do find yourself confronting one again, I'd recom--"

"Flying away from it?" Max interrupted, growing weary of this. I noticed for the first time that my hand was still on her hip and thought about moving it, but decided to leave it there for as long as Max would allow.

"Blizzards," said Brigid, determined to get at least one point across here. "Katabatic winds. Sometimes upward of eighty miles an hour. They blow snow and ice particles around, and it can feel like needles." She stopped, looking pointedly at Max, but she raised her chin defiantly and said nothing. "Hunker down. Dig a hole for yourself in a snow bank. Stay together. Don't eat ice for hydration-- it'll only lower your core temperature. Stay put and wait for help. We _will_ come find you."

_Yeah, I'm so sure you just want to help us, _I thought sourly. _You and Michael, the pedophile buddies._

"Aye aye," Max said, and saluted. The way she did it looked so childlike, so freaking adorable, that I subconsciously pulled her closer to me. Seeming to notice my arm around her waist for the first time since I'd put it there, she subtly pushed it away and stood up.

So after we went out and looked at this ice stuff, we found that carbon dioxide levels were the highest they'd been in, like, a million years. Melanie explained to us that this was because of the burning fossil fuels. Given all this information, I still thought this global warming deal was worthwhile, despite the creepiness of our coworkers. So I guessed we should stick around… but sleeping with one eye open.

**Reviews are loved!**


	48. Chapter 48

While the flock and a few of the scientists were gathering ice samples, Brigid came over and knelt to work beside me. Immediately, I felt the air around us grow heavy with tension-- unless you counted the glares I'd been giving her at breakfast, we hadn't discussed the kiss incident. As she smiled at me, I shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

We worked in silence for awhile, listening to Max and Angel's conversation a few feet away. Angel was saying something about penguins, and Max kept saying the word no.

"Fang?" Brigid asked softly.

I looked over and jumped, startled, when I saw her face _right there_. "What?" I asked gruffly, trying to show my disinterest in talking to her without making a big scene.

"Can you get this off?" She held her camera out to me, shaking out her gloved hand. "I can_not_ get this lens cap off."

I nodded mutely and took it from her. With one good twist, the cap fell off, landing in the snow in front of us. "Here you go."

"Thanks," she said, smiling big at me. I shrugged and went back to what I was doing, still very aware of her presence. She shifted closer, and closer, inch by inch, thinking I wouldn't notice.

Yeah, right.

"Okay." I put down the little ice shovel thing I was holding and turned to look at Brigid. "Look. I don't know what your deal is, whether you're a spy or a pedophile or both, but you've gotta stop." All the diplomacy I'd used the last few weeks, not letting her know I was on her case, was flying right out the window. It was time to end this. "I'm not interested in you, okay?"

At first she looked surprised, then hurt. I felt guilty for half a second before I remembered that she was probably just faking this. And if she _was_ attracted to me, then, well… she had issues.

"But Fang," she said quietly, looking around to make sure nobody was within earshot. "I do like you. I like working with you. You're a nice guy. And I'm grateful for your help. Max… she doesn't seem that way to me, Fang. If I were you, I think I'd get sick of feeling underappreciated."

"I don't feel underappreciated," I growled. Even though I did, with the constant pushing away, I didn't want her to know that. And I got mad anyway. "Like I said before, Brigid, you don't say stuff like that about Max. Especially not around me."

"Why do you so badly want to be with someone who doesn't even _appreciate_ you, Fang?" she pressed on. I gritted my teeth to keep my anger in check. "I mean, I can appreciate you. I can _lo_-"

"You can't love me," I snapped, keeping my voice low, quiet, not wanting anyone to hear this. "You can't and you don't. How stupid do you think I am? I know you have other motives. But more importantly, _I_ could never love _you_. Even if I wanted to. Because I love Max, okay? I love her."

Brigid just looked at me with this sad, sympathetic, pitying look on her face that I just wanted to slap right off. I didn't, though, instead picking up my shovel and violently scraping at the ground with it.

I had a sudden feeling that something was wrong and quickly looked behind me. Max was standing up, doing a 360, her fists clenched. I stood too, all thoughts of my conversation with Brigid immediately gone, and started to do the same.

There was nothing, though. No approaching danger. I raised my eyebrow at Max, and she sighed and shrugged, still looking around suspiciously. I kept watching her, waiting for something to come.

"Fang?" Brigid called.

I met Max's eyes again, and she shook her head. For a moment longer, I looked at her, the girl I loved more than life itself, the only one I wanted to be with. Then I turned and saw Brigid, a person I despised, yet found myself walking toward, leaving Max to stand alone.

**Ooh. Burn.**

**Review. Please?**


	49. Chapter 49

**Merry Christmas Eve!**

**Okay, so I got a review that said something about the review not mattering because I have 400-something reviews already… so I just wanted to say that I have read every single one of those 400-something reviews, and I'll continue to do that. So please review!**

**Anyway. Here we go!**

Brigid and Michael snuck into the same room they had been in a few days earlier, closing the door carefully behind them. Brigid moved over to the table and put down the laptop, opening it and pulling up the webcam while Michael locked the door.

"You're lucky he's late, too," Brigid griped when she saw the blank screen, sinking into a chair. "He would bite our heads off if he knew we were late. And it's all your fault, idiot."

"At least I'm not epic fail," he said cockily, sitting down in his seat and promptly putting his feet up on the table.

Brigid looked at him in disbelief. "You _did_ fail, though. Your little arm-around-the-waist thing failed. _Epically_, as you put it."

Michael narrowed his eyes. "How did you know that?"

"I was hiding in the hallway," she said smugly. "Chu might not be yelling at you, but Fang sure did."

"Not as much as he yelled at you for the _kiss_," he shot back, causing Brigid to clench her fists. "That was _way_ over the top. At least I know when--"

"Hello, you two."

The two of them turned quickly at the sound of the voice and found Mr. Chu on the screen, sitting in a big, comfortable desk chair with his hands folded over his stomach like always. He watched them sternly, then said, "I want updates."

"Brigid kissed Fang and he totally told her off and now they're not speaking," Michael blurted out before the other scientist could rat him out. She gave him a dirty look.

"Dr. Dwyer!" barked Mr. Chu, sitting forward in his chair, putting his face right up against the computer monitor. "You have been foolish in your mission. Your mission was to _woo_, not _throw yourself at_!"

"Michael pissed off Fang!" she said, pointing at him. He winced. "_He_ threw himself at Max, and now both Max and Fang are suspicious."

Mr. Chu's lips tightened into a thin line; he was not pleased. "You understand that if I had other options, you'd both be replaced."

"Yes, sir," Brigid said. Michael nodded.

"Give up on the bird children," he sighed. "You've blown that part of the plan. Now let's focus on Gozen's attack. Let's go over the details of how that's going to happen."

"Okay," they agreed, knowing that they had to pull this off correctly now. And they memorized the entire sinister plan.

**Dun. Dun. Dun.**


	50. Chapter 50

**Merry Christmas!**

After we went inside one day, I sat down and started unlacing my heavy boots. The others came in shortly after me, Max bringing up the rear. She came up to me and, apparently having read my latest blog entry, teased, "Fang… alator?" with an undertone of bitterness.

I knew why-- most of the entry had been dedicated to Brigid. Yeah, it was over the top, but it had to be-- she knew I had been onto her, and I had to make her believe that her attempts to cover up the kiss were working. Still, Max pushing me away and getting jealous at the same time was getting old.

You know what I was _so_ sick of?

_Women._

"You're just mad because I wrote about Brigid," I said as I finished unlacing my boot and started pulling it off.

Her jaw dropped, and I half expected her to snap her fingers and go _Oh no you didn't. _But instead she protested, "I am not! I don't even read your blog! You can write about whoever you want!"

Usually, at this point I would shrug and brush past her, but her and Brigid and heck, even the freaking Red-Haired Wonder was getting to be too much. "You can't have it both ways, Max. You blow me off every chance you get, but then you get mad if I talk to someone else."

"I do n--" she started, then stopped, realization dawning on her face. A pretty blush came to her cheeks, and she huffed. "You say that like it's a bad thing," she blurted, trying to make this into a joke, but we were in too deep for that.

I stood up, now both my boots on the floor beside me. "I said that we would never split up again," I told her. A panicked look crossed her face, which actually kind of hurt. Did she really think I would break my promise to her for _anything_? "And I meant it. We have to keep the flock together to survive. But you might want to think about cutting me a break now and then."

I looked at her long and hard, and a solitary tear rolled down her cheek. We didn't want our relationship to be like this. Neither of us did. There was plenty of blame to go around-- me rushing things… I raised my hand, intending to wipe that tear away… but also her being stupid about it. I dropped my hand back to my side with this last thought, and from the look on her face, her heart was breaking in two.

Feeling horrible about it, yet for some reason doing it anyway, I turned to go.

Then footsteps were pounding from the other side of the room, and I looked back to see Gazzy running over to us.

"I can't find Angel anywhere," he got out between pants.

"Maybe she's just out flying," Max suggested.

"She would have told someone," Gazzy said. "Total's gone too. Maybe they went walking or something, but it's getting bad out there-- listen to that wind."

I cocked my head, listening, and suddenly heard it _howling_, pressing against the station on all sides. Max was looking panicked, and then Michael-- my gut still churned when I saw him-- came in. "Is Akila in here, by any chance? Last I saw, she was outside with Total and Angel, but that was an hour ago. Have they checked in with you?"

That confirmed it. Max's eyes met mine, worried, scared, and determined. I walked back over to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder while I waited for her instructions.

"Get the others," she said. "Tell them to dress warm."

**I hope everyone enjoys their holiday! Reviews would be present enough for me! : D**


	51. Chapter 51

**Okay, guys, sorry about the wait. I was busy and such. Anyway, this is a made-up scene…**

I sat down and grabbed my boots again, tugging them on and lacing them back up. "Gazzy, where are Nudge and Iggy?"

"In their rooms, I think," he said. Max was pacing, looking nervous, looking for her clothes and equipment.

Making a mental note to comfort her in a second, I look at the Gasman and said, "Go get them. Tell them to prepare to go out in the storm."

He nodded and scampered out of the room. I finished tying my boots and stood up to walk over to Max, who was now sitting on the ground fumbling with a pair of socks.

"Hey," I said softly, crouching down beside her.

"Hey," she replied, not looking up as she pulled the socks apart and started tugging them on. I gently took her hand and pulled it away from her foot, rubbing circles on the back of it with my thumb. She raised her scared eyes, and they met mine.

"Do you think she's okay?" Max whispered, trailing off at the end, as if she didn't actually want the answer.

"She's fine," I soothed, pulling her into my arms. I waited for her to push me away, but she didn't. So I seized the moment and held her tight, burying my face in her soft hair. She nuzzled her face into my neck, and I put one hand on the back of her head to hold it there.

We'd been through a lot in our relationship-- three kisses that ended awkwardly, jealousy with Lissa and Sam, the problems with Brigid and Michael. But those three kisses felt so much more _right_ than kissing Lissa or Brigid. And this, right here, felt the greatest of all: knowing that no matter what, I would _always_ hold Max when she needed it. And even when she didn't.

"We're gonna save her," I said, and she nodded. "She'll be fine."

As I looked over Max's head at the window, though, I had to doubt my own words. The wind was getting louder and louder, the snow coming harder and harder, so thick I couldn't even see the sky.

"Thanks, Fang," Max murmured against my neck, and then she pulled back, leaving my arms empty and cold.

"Anytime," I promised her, reaching out to smooth down her hair. She closed her eyes at the contact, and I did it again, and again, never wanting to see that contented look leave her face.

That was when it hit me, with all the force of the snowstorm raging outside. I knew it already, but only now, when we could be there for each other in the midst of tension and jealousy, I finally realized: We _belonged_ together. We were _made_ for each other. There was no way we could be so compatible and that not be the case. There just wasn't.

I should have had a battle mindset, but at that moment, all I could see was Max's beautiful, serene face in front of me, and my hand moving to touch her cheek.

Footsteps were coming toward us, but Max didn't jerk away at the thought of them, as I had thought she would. If anything, she leaned further into my hand.

"Brigid and I-- uh, am I interrupting something?" Michael came into the room with Brigid and Nudge on his heels. All three of them were staring at us.

"Um, no," I said, reluctantly taking my hand off of Max's face. "You and Brigid what?"

"We're going to take Nudge with us to search the _Wendy K_," Brigid said.

"I think Nudge should--" Max began, but I turned and gave her a look, and she stopped. I didn't trust Michael or Brigid anymore than she did, but they wouldn't do anything to Nudge. For one, they were only after the two of us, and they also knew we were onto them.

Iggy and Gazzy came up behind them, Gazzy holding Iggy's sleeve to lead him.

"You two are staying here, in case they come back," Max ordered.

"What--"

"She's my sister!"

"I'm not staying!"

"Yes, you are," Max said with finality, and turned away.

I walked over to Iggy, who was scowling, irritated. As he sensed me come within earshot, he said, "Make her let me come!"

"Sorry, dude." I shrugged. "She's the boss."

"You just don't have a backbone," Iggy growled. "You stupid lovesick bird kid. She walks all over you."

"Yeah," I said, watching her speak to Nudge in a low voice, the hair I'd just run my fingers through falling to frame her face. "I know."

**Push the little green button… you know you want to…**


	52. Chapter 52

**Ahh, short chapter, sorry!**

While Max and I were putting on the last of our clothes and equipment, Paul and Brian, the brothers, came in the room and saw us.

"I don't want you two flying in this storm," Paul said worriedly. I rolled my eyes. If he thought he was going to change Max's mind about _anything_, much less this, then he was an idiot. "It's not too bad now, but it's going to get worse. We don't want to have to look for you too."

I glanced over at Max as I reached for the climber's rope, throwing it over my shoulder. She was ignoring Paul as she pulled on her boots.

"Max?" Brian stepped forward, and she looked up, but only for a second. "You need to stay here. Let us handle it."

_Yeah, you and your handy crew of scientist pedophiles, _I thought irritably as Max stood up, pulled on her huge parka, and said firmly, "Guys, I take care of my own."

The brothers exchanged a glance, and Paul lifted his chin, crossed his arms, and pulled out the most controlling voice he could muster. "Max, I forbid you and Fang to go out into that storm!"

Max giggled at his misperception that we obeyed orders, and I had to smile-- partly at that, but partly at her cute, high-pitched, uncharacteristic giggle. We started to leave, but Brian blocked our way, and Max scowled.

"Max, you don't know--" he began, but she drew her fist back and slammed it into his jaw, making his head snap back before he crumpled to the floor.

We leaped over his writhing, moaning figure and rushed out into the storm, unfurling our wings and setting off on our death mission.

**Review?**


	53. Chapter 53

Damn, that air was _cold_. The wind was blowing _hard_. It was awful.

As my teeth chattered and my wings quivered, and Max's did the same, and we continued to not see Angel in the storm below us, a terrible thought came to me. One that could mean the death of not only Angel, but Max and I, too.

"Hypothermia," I called to Max, and she nodded. Tears were streaming down her face, and I momentarily panicked before realizing it was windburn. I returned my gaze to below us, but all I saw was white. No specks of black parkas or talking Scottie dogs.

Five minutes later, I realized Max was watching me. I turned to meet her gaze, and was surprised at what I saw. Her face, beautiful as always. Her hair, flecked with white snow, blowing around it. But her expression… it was so full of emotion, which was unheard of from her. There was worry, fear… want? _Love_?

I smiled at her, and her face brightened, and just seeing that, I felt a million times better.

"We'll find her," I said, swooping closer so our wings touched on the down stroke. "We always do."

As if coming to her senses, she nodded curtly and turned away from me. I sighed, the wind seeming worse now than ever, as yet another moment slipped away.

We continued on for another ten minutes, seeing nothing but white, losing hope fast. Suddenly, though, Max pointed downward and yelled, "There! Are those tracks?"

I squinted. They were small, but there _were_ some outlines in the same shape we'd been observing for a few weeks now. "Penguins?"

"Yeah," Max said, disappointed. I moved closer, meaning to console her, but something dawned on her face. "Penguins!"

I stared at her. "That's what I just said!" If Max lost her mind right now… I didn't even want to think about it…

"No, I mean, Angel wanted a penguin!" she explained, and it clicked. "I'm going down!"

We headed downward, and now I could see the mass of penguins several feet away from the tracks. I saw Max's lips start moving silently, and I prayed, too, not wanting to know what would happen if we couldn't find Angel.

**Alrighty. Short, sorry, but the chapter in the book was, too. Um… review?**


	54. Chapter 54

**Okay, so I'm actually more ahead of these chapters than I have been in a while, but I simply forgot to update yesterday. Oops!**

"You were supposed to stop them!" Brigid snapped. "We were supposed to keep all of them here so we could easily hand them over. First you let Angel get away, and now those two!"

Michael sighed. "Okay, I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn't think they'd leave so quickly!"

Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward, getting right in his face. "You have spent the last several weeks working with them. You saw their reactions when you tried getting close to Max. You've seen how guarded they are, and how protective of each other and the flock. You should have known that they wouldn't mess around when one of the others was in danger!"

"Well, where were _you_?" he shot back.

Brigid opened her mouth to reply, but her laptop, behind her, beeped. With one more glare at Michael, she turned and saw, as she had many times before, Mr. Chu on the screen.

"Actually," he said slowly, looking almost bored, "Neither of you have failed. It was your companions."

"Our companions?" Brigid asked, confused. "But it's only the two of us, isn't it, sir?"

With a long, exasperated sigh, Mr. Chu shook his head. "You two have failed me. Your observation and interpreting skills are less than impressive. Did you not notice the interest Brian and Paul Carey took in Max?"

There was a pause. Then, "Oh," Michael said, drawing out the word, realization dawning on his face. "That makes sense."

"Brian and Paul are with us, too?" Brigid demanded. "Why didn't you tell us this? This would have been so much easier if you'd told us who was on our side from the beginning!"

"Do not speak to me like that!" Mr. Chu barked, and she quickly shut her mouth. "I wanted to see your individual progress," he went on, more mildly. "Or, in your case, lack thereof. Both of you have failed in your missions to separate Max and Fang. Now, I want you to find Brian and Paul and focus on getting the others into our hands."

Brigid and Michael met each other's eyes and nodded. Time to take down the bird kids.

**I might post again later, if I get enough reviews for this one. : )**


	55. Chapter 55

**Happy Late New Year! I probably should have said that, you know, two days ago, but whatever. : )**

The instant our feet touched the ground, the wind blew a mouthful of snow in my mouth. I choked and gagged, and Max thumped me on the back.

Clamping my mouth shut, I started walking against the wind. Max was beside me, her teeth chattering, lips turning kind of blue. Sensing my eyes on her, she nodded toward the ground, where I could barely make out the outline of something. We knelt in the snow, the cold seeping through my heavy pants, and peered at the prints.

They looked like little boots.

Max stood up and pointed in the direction the boot prints were leading. I nodded and got up, almost getting knocked over when a strong wind rushed at me. Before I hit the snow, though, Max caught my hand in hers and dragged me forward.

For a long time, all we saw was whiteness. The tracks were disappearing as the wind blew, so we lost our guide. I was wet and miserable, every part of me cold except for my gloved left hand, warm in Max's right.

At some point, I started shaking, and Max did, too. With each step, we gradually got closer to each other until we were pressed shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, all the way down to our locked hands. And then, my whole arm was warm.

Max shrieked, and I whipped my head around to see that her foot had fallen some place where I couldn't see it, her body lopsided as she tried to balance. And as I watched her in that one moment, I felt that surge of terror, the one I hadn't felt since the pizza bomb incident. Terror at Max being in danger. Terror at the thought of something, anything happening to her. And terror at the thought of having to go on afterwards.

I held her hand tighter, yanking her foot out of that hole and pulling her back to my side. As we prepared to keep going, though, a small, high voice stopped us.

"Help!"

"Angel!" Max screamed, tears-- no longer from the wind-- escaping from the corners of her eyes. She spun, looking for her baby, almost losing her balance as she did so. I released her hand and moved behind her, winding my arms around her waist and pulling her to me so she wouldn't blow away. Now it wasn't only my left arm that was warm; it was my entire body, all the way up to my face, which I buried in her long blonde hair.

"Max! Help!" came Angel's voice again.

"We're here! We'll get you!" Max's voice was almost hysterical. I kissed the top of her head, but if she noticed, she didn't react. "Where are you?"

"Down here!" she yelled. "You just kicked snow on me!"

Max jerked out of my grasp and sprawled out on her stomach, peering down at the hole. I followed her lead and saw that the hole was huge, huge enough that had I not been holding her hand, it would have swallowed her right up.

"You're dumping snow on us!"

"I'm sorry!" Max said, frustrated, as she continued brushing away the snow covering the hole. "I have to find you first! We can't even see where you went in!"

I helped her move enough snow off the hole to where we could see the deep, deep hole. The ice formed a narrow vee, and at the very bottom, I could barely make out three shapes.

I sat up and started taking the rope off my shoulder, even before Max turned to me and said, "Get the rope." She turned back to the hole and yelled, "Angel? We're going to drop a rope down to you. Just hold on tight and we'll pull you up, okay?"

"Uh…" Angel said, trailing off in a way that made me think something was wrong.

"What?" I called.

"My foot's stuck," she said, so softly I had to lean forward to hear her. "And I have Total and Akila with me. They can't hold on to a rope."

I closed my eyes, the wind biting my eyelids.

Crap.

**If anybody read my author's note (I don't remember what chapter…) where I said my obsession with Maximum Ride was kind of going away, well, I think I can safely say that it is gone. I really hope that doesn't negatively effect my ability to write MR fan fiction, but I'm going to finish this story for you guys regardless. Just so you know.**

**Alright, and review! Please!**


	56. Chapter 56

**To whoever asked whether Fang actually held Max in the book-- yes, yes he did. I elaborated and stretched it as far as it could possibly be stretched, but he did hold her.**

Max gritted her teeth and looked over at me. "Great," she said bitterly. I nodded.

"I'm sorry," came Angel's choked up voice, floating up to us through the noise of the wind.

"It's okay," Max called back, faking confidence. Next to me, though, where Angel couldn't see her, she was biting her lip, the wheels in her brain turning.

She was so freaking beautiful.

"Just hold tight for a second…" she said, still coming up with nothing.

"It's awfully cold," Angel said in such a sad voice that it almost broke my heart. If Max was like her mother, then I was like her father. And if I told Max that, she would slug me, but it was true. "Akila and Total went to sleep, and they won't wake up."

I looked to Max for what to do. She had closed her eyes and tilted her head back in exasperation. "Angel?" she asked, her eyes still shut. "The only way we can get the dogs out is if you tie the rope around them and we haul them out first. Then we'll get you."

"Them first?" Angel asked skeptically.

Now Max opened her eyes and leaned forward, looking down into the hole. "They can't hold on to the rope, like you said. But you would have to be last. Or, or we can get you out first, if you really can't wait."

There was a pause. While we waited, I started trembling harder than I had this whole time. _Hypothermia…_

"I'll tie the rope around Total first," Angel said, and Max grinned proudly, a real grin that took my breath away. Not that I had much breath in this weather, but you get what I mean.

I was still staring at her profile when she turned and nudged me. "What are you waiting for?"

"Huh?" I asked dumbly.

"The rope, idiot," Max snapped, grabbing it from my hand and dropping it down into the hole. I finally refocused and helped her pull the rope up after Angel had tied it around Total. When he was up, Max quickly untied the rope and dumped Total, half covered in ice, in my lap. I unzipped my jacket, stuffed him in there, and quickly zipped back up.

She threw the rope back into the hole. It took a long time for Angel to tie the rope, and eventually she yelled, "Akila's really heavy. I tied it on the best I could."

Max was in front of me, pulling the rope, and I was in the back, since I was bigger. Together, we managed to haul that stupid eighty pound dog up. It took so much force, though, that Akila flew into Max's lap, knocking her backward into mine.

I looked down at Max's face, ghostly white, as her eyes stared sleepily up at me. She looked so weak. As her eyelids started to droop, I panicked, knowing that if she went to sleep she might not wake up.

"Max," I said, quickly grabbed Akila and pushing her off of Max's stomach. "Max, sit up."

"Mmhmmm," she groaned, but, with my help, did so. Once she was upright, she seemed to regain her determination, and started briskly rubbing Akila's fur. I recovered from our little moment and threw the rope back down to Angel.

"Angel? Akila?" Total asked weakly from inside my jacket.

"They're okay," I said.

"Angel?" Max yelled, a proud smile once again on her face. "They're both out. You did so good, sweetie! I'm so proud of you. Now you just hang on tight to the rope, okay? We'll have you up in a sec."

"I got the rope," she replied. "But my foot's still stuck. I don't think I can get out."

Max looked at me desperately, her eyes begging for me to offer up a plan. But I had absolutely nothing.

**Uh-oh. Review… please?**


	57. Chapter 57

After I shrugged helplessly and Max rolled her eyes at me, she took control again. "Angel, instead of holding on to the rope, tie it around your chest, under your arms. We'll pull you out."

"But my--"

"I know, punkin. We'll just have to try."

Punkin. That was a new one. Isn't that a word used by, like, British nannies?

We waited, and then Angel called, "Okay, I'm ready."

We assumed our positions-- Max in front, me in back, being the driving force. At first, nothing was budging. But then Angel cried out, a sound that made Max wince, and we were able to pull her up.

"Angel?" Max called.

"My foot's out," she said, in tears.

Moments later, we were pulling her out of the hole, and relief flooded over me. It flooded over me so much, in fact, that when Max wrapped her arms around her baby, holding her close, I scooted over and wrapped my arms around the both of them, as if we really were the little family I'd thought about us being earlier.

_Aw, that's sweet, Fang, _Angel giggled inside my head.

_If you tell Max, I'm leaving Total out here._

Her face suddenly grew serious, and she broke apart from me and Max. "We won't make it back. Not in this storm."

I sobered up, too, and nodded. "She's right. We need to dig a hole and hunker down, wait it out."

Max looked longingly at the sky for a second, but then said, "Okay," knowing that we couldn't go anywhere with Akila, Angel's ankle, and the wind growing brisker.

Total stayed in my jacket, and I held tightly to Akila's mane as we trudge forward. Max and Angel held hands, huddled together for all the warmth they could muster.

"Stay down!" I yelled when we reached a place, and Angel nodded, pulling the dogs to crouch with her. I fell to my knees beside Max, and with our gloved hands, we started digging. Every so often, our hands brushed, but at this point, even that didn't bring me much comfort. This was bad. This was so, so bad.

"Come on!" Max screamed over her shoulder when the cave was big enough. Angel and the dogs crawled forward against the wind, and we all squeezed into the hole. It was so small that we were all squished together, so I ended up with Max pressed against one side of me and Angel against the other.

The wind kept blowing snow, enough to seal off the opening of our shelter, so it was like a white room, one where Iggy would be able to see everybody.

Iggy. Geez, I really hoped Brigid and Michael hadn't done anything to him and the others. Now that I thought about it, I probably should have warned them before Max and I left, just in case.

"How's your ankle, Angel?" Max asked, still trying to keep up the positive demeanor.

"It hurts," she said tiredly, yawning. "It might not be actually broken, though. Don't know. It hurts."

"Okay, everyone, rub your arms and slap your hands against your chest," Max ordered, always the drill sergeant. "Get that blood going!" Angel and I followed her instructions, looking stupid, I'm sure. But the cold was horrible. I would have done just about anything for a blanket and some hot chocolate right then.

"How you doin'?" Max asked Total, rubbing him as he shivered.

"I'd give a lot for one of those thermal pools about now," he got out through chattering teeth.

"You and me both," she told him.

_Tank top…_

_Fang!_

Max turned to me, and for one panicked second, I thought Angel had told her what I'd just been thinking about. But instead, Max said snidely, "Too bad Brigid isn't here. I bet she'd know what to do."

I inwardly sighed, still just as sick of this crap as I had been before we came to rescue Angel. So I looked her right in the face and said, "I'm sure she'll come find our frozen bodies."

"We're not gonna freeze!" Angel shrieked, frightened. "Are we?"

Max and I exchanged a guilty-- and apologetic-- look. She leaned across me to speak to Angel. "No, sweetie, we have this shelter," she said comfortingly, doing what she did best, even better than being a leader and keeping everyone safe: being a mother. And being amazing. "We'll be okay. We'll just wait out the storm, and as soon as it's over, we'll all get back to the station."

I watched as Angel smiled, comforted, and Max quickly pressed her bluish lips to Angel's cold forehead. And then I thought about how someday, more than anything, I wanted to see her kiss another little girl on the forehead, take away all her fears, while I looked on. A little girl with, say, blonde hair, olive skin, and big, black eyes.

**I hope you understood the end… review?**


	58. Chapter 58

**Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I'm sick. I'm posting this real quickly before I go back to bed.**

**Someone asked if Max actually said punkin in the book, because that was kind of weird-- yeah. She did. And I thought it was weird that JP used that word, too. :P**

"_Eliza, I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night!"_

I inwardly groaned as Total sang _more_ Broadway crap **(A/N: No offense to people who like that stuff. I do too!)**. Max was not so conservative with her opinion, though. She reached out and lightly smacked him. "Shut up!"

"I'm cold," Angel said, then quickly added, "Not that cold."

I could feel her shivering as she curled up into my side, though, and I raised my hand to stroke her hair. At this, she smiled up at me and said bravely, "And my ankle's so cold it doesn't hurt much."

Max bit her lip and looked worriedly at Angel's foot. The three of us and the dogs were still huddled together, so she was still pressed against my side. I raised one arm and slipped it around her waist, pulling her closer. For the second time that day, she didn't push me away, but when I saw the glazed over expression on her face, my happiness faded a little.

"This is the end," Total moaned.

"What?" Max asked, raising her head from my shoulder, her face coming alive again. "No, it's not. This is not the end. It's not the end till I say it's the end."

"This is one thing you can't control, Max," I told her, still running my fingers through Angel's blonde curls. At my words-- I don't think I'd ever told her she couldn't do something before; maybe it was just the tenseness between us-- Max shot me a glare.

"It's been an honor serving with you," Total said in a voice that seemed to foreshadow that there was a lot to follow. Max opened her mouth, but Total resumed. "No, no, don't stop me. Certain things must be said. I always swore I'd face death with dignity and honor."

"No you didn't!" Max said incredulously. "You always said you'd fight it tooth and nail! You said you'd go out kicking and screaming!"

"Life," continued Total like the overdramatic talking dog he was, "like that first burst of color at dawn, is fleeting. Ah, sweet life! What a short, strange trip it's been! I've done, _been_, so much more than a typical dog." He turned to Akila and extended his paw. "Just like you, my beauty, my queen. You've served a nobler purpose."

I sighed loudly.

"And now it's come to this. I had such dreams, such hopes! There's a whole world out there… I always wanted to be an astronaut. Now I'll never even get to try my wings." I was stuck on the _dog_ having a dream of being an _astronaut_, but Max stiffened beside me. When I turned to look at her, I saw her… blinking back tears.

We needed to get out of here. When one of Total's, um, _speeches_ made Max cry, then there was an issue.

"How many fine wines I haven't tried," he said, and Max rolled her eyes, reassuring me that she wasn't falling apart just yet. "How many sights I haven't seen. The Pyramids in Egypt. The Great Wall of China. The bonny, bonny White Cliffs of Dover. Gone, all gone, lost to me forever!"

I stared up at the snow ceiling. "Please tell me the end is soon."

Beside me, Max suddenly spun around and slammed her first against the snow sealing us in our shelter, making a hole in the wall.

"Is the storm over?" Angel asked sleepily, barely lifting her head for my shoulder.

"No," came a voice we hadn't heard before, and I jumped and spun, squinting. I couldn't see anybody. "The storm is just beginning."

The next thing I saw was white, all white, as the snow blocked my vision.

**I don't know if I'll post tomorrow or not, but I'll get back to work on this when I feel better, okay?**

**Okay. Now… review? : )**


	59. Chapter 59

**Okay, people, we are back in business! I'm all better, thanks for all the get well wishes! : )**

**Also, Claire Elizabeth requested that I mention her name in the author's note, so… here you go! Thanks for the review. : )**

There were some sort of figures dragging us out of our shelter, but my brain couldn't process what exactly they were. Max and I grabbed Angel by the hands and unfurled our wings, leaping into the air.

The net got Max first, yanking her hand out of Angel's, and my stomach clenched. But then they got Angel and I, too, and slammed all three of us, plus the dogs, onto the hard snow.

"Max!" Angel cried, reaching for her mother figure. I quickly looked over the both of them: they were pale, weak, and Angel was wincing with every slight movement of her ankle. Max, though, had a determined look in her eyes as she fingered the net, trying to find a weak point. I craned my neck to look for whoever had captured us, and found them: a bunch of four foot tall robots, and one really tall one.

"Do not hurt them," the tall one said. "Remember, we must save them."

"News flash," Max snapped, ever the smartass, even when she was half-frozen, "Your saving us is practically killing us! Let us up!"

The tall one laughed-- it sounded halfway human, odd coming from his robot body. Max, looking up at him, grimaced and said, "Oh, jeez."

"Not saving you from this storm, mutant," he said. Even though our enemies addressed us as 'mutant' all the time, that thing calling Max that made me want to slug it in the face. It seemed so wrong that something so ugly could look down on something so beautiful. "Saving you for your later fate, we are."

I bit back a smirk, but leaned toward Max and muttered, "Oh, good. Yoda captured us."

We were jerked forward, and when I looked down, I saw that the net was rising. I started throwing myself at the sides, looking for any escape-- my claustrophobia was kicking in.

"I am Gozen," the big robot stated, and I half-expected it to follow up with, Hear me roar. But no. "I do not want you to freeze to death. I want to watch you die later."

"You need to get yourself a new hobby," Max said in that adorably sarcastic way of hers.

"It's always something," Total growled in that annoying dog-voice of his.

"Killing things is not a hobby," Gozen said. Well, that's a relief, I thought, but I didn't know what was coming next. "It is my life. It is what I was created to do. I am able to kill things in many, many different ways."

Okay, so, if it was his hobby, that would have been bad, but better than this. This… this was just very, very messed up.

"We're able to kill things in many different ways too," Max said, sticking her nose in the air, as the wheels in her brain began turning. "We like breaking things, for instance."

I kept my eyes on her face, waiting for her to relay a plan to me. But before she could, Gozen announced, "That is something we share. Like this," and grabbed Angel's arm.

Max's jaw dropped as the sickening crack of Angel's bone breaking overcame the howling of the wind. Then she recovered from her shock, while I stayed in stunned motionlessness, and hit Gozen's hand with hers. She was acting on instinct, not on careful thought, which is why she ended up holding her shoulder, her eyes squeezed shut in pain-- that's what happened when you slam your fist on hard metal.

The moment Gozen let go of Angel's arm, Max wrapped her arms around her and rocked her, murmuring in her ear.

"Move them," Gozen yelled at the other robots.

The net stayed at the same distance from the ground, but we started moving east. There was nothing we could do for now.

Max, still holding Angel, looked over at me, her eyes as hopeless and helpless as I'd ever seen them, which hurt me. I sent her a message with my own eyes, to just hold tight until we could make a move. And she nodded, understanding as easily as she always did.

**Push the green button… you know you want to…**


	60. Chapter 60

It seemed like it was hours that we were carted around in that net. All we saw was the net, each other, and white-- lots and lots of white.

At some point, all of our alertness began to fade, replaced with sleepiness. From what I could see, Max looked the worse, though. Her lips were blue, her skin was white, and her limbs were stiff, so stiff she could hardly move. I glanced over at Angel. She didn't look _much_ better, but she had Akila in her lap and her face buried in Total's hair, and she wasn't shivering nearly as much as Max and I.

"Max," I whispered, opening my arms. "Come here."

In this state, Max really couldn't refuse. She crawled over the net on her hands and knees, stumbling as it kept swinging around, but eventually hoisted herself into my lap. I held her tightly to me, rubbing my hands over her cheeks, her forehead, her neck, trying to warm them up.

She groaned, low in her throat. I looked behind me, trying to see where we were going, but it was useless. The storm was worse now than ever. I had never wanted a bed and a heating pad so badly in my life.

"Look after Angel."

The voice came from right under my chin, but it didn't sound like Max's at all. It was too weak, too… defeated to be hers. With my eyes focused on her face, I said, "What?"

She opened her mouth-- it had been her voice, alright. "You have to look after Angel."

It took me a second to process this, and then I realized what she was saying-- that she wasn't going to make it. That I had to step up and be the leader in her place. That I had to make sure Angel got to safety.

"Max, no," I hissed, rubbing her face harder than ever. "You're gonna make it."

"I'm so tired," she murmured, her head lolling onto my chest.

And her eyes closed. Terror seized me. I quickly slapped her, hard, across the face. "Wake up!"

Even that slap didn't make her eyes open all the way, though. Instead, she opened them halfway and gave me a sad, heartbreaking little smile. "Fang, I--"

And then she blinked and sat up, gently untangling herself from my grasp. She squinted at something behind me, and I turned to look.

Looming in front of us was a big, white building.

Glory hallelujah.

I seriously felt like singing, and I did send up a mental thanks. I mean, sure, this was where the enemy wanted us to be, but at least we were going _indoors_. We had a better chance of surviving by kicking bad-guy butt than we did by staying out in this storm.

We entered the building, and warmth engulfed us so suddenly I took in a big, grateful gulp of air. Max's cheeks immediately returned to their normal beautiful rosy shade, and just like that, things were looking up.

"Max?"

Or maybe not.

I looked up to see the Gasman in another net with Iggy and Nudge, all of them looking cold, but not nearly as cold as us and the dogs.

Our net dropped us onto the concrete floor, and we all made an _oof_ noise. We struggled to our feet, and Gazzy called out again. "Max!"

I suppose she'd been too out of it to recognize the voice the first time, because now she took a step closer to the other net, her face twisted in confusion. "Gazzy?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Max turned to me and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, sending them off with Dr. Amazing sure did a lot of good."

I sighed. I hold her and warm her up during a life-threatening snow storm, I do everything I can to keep her alive, and she's _still_ mad at me.

Women.

**That middle part is made up, but the rest of the chapter isn't-- in the middle, there was one of those paragraphs that's basically like "we sat there for a while," so I decided to add to it.**

**I just love reviews. : )**


	61. Chapter 61

Max, Angel and I got caught up on what had happened with Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy. Apparently, the scientists had 'fought' when the flock had been attacked, but with one glance, Max and I agreed on the truth-- they had been in on it the whole time.

We were dumped in the back of a cargo plane, which wasn't the most comfortable place we'd ever been. It was chilly, but much warmer than the arctic.

"What are we going?" Iggy asked, looking in Max's direction with that creepy accuracy. "Any clues?"

"No," Max said, looking around, trying to find a way out. There were no windows to break, though, and even our superhuman strength would be no match for the walls of the plane.

"Who was the big thug?" Nudge asked tiredly. We were all in pretty bad shape, even the ones who hadn't been in the snow storm, because they'd been attacked.

"Don't know," Max said. "He's a big Frankenberry jerk, though."

I bit back a snigger at her description of Gozen, and Gazzy said, "Those things are so weird."

"You're not kidding," Max sighed.

The Gasman looked over at the little robot soldier things, which had followed us into the plane and were now standing against the wall. A questioning look came across Gazzy's face, and he reached out to touch one of the robots.

There was a loud zapping noise, and the Gasman was thrown backward with a loud yelp. The soldier, and a few surrounding it, moved forward, and my heart leapt into my throat. If we were attacked now, there would be no escape.

"Back away very slowly, Gazzy," Max whispered, her lips barely moving, eyes set on the soldiers. "To the wall, and sit down, very, very slowly."

The rest of us remained still as he began to move. He moved too fast, though, and one of the soldiers shot a laser out of his hand, burning a hole in his boot.

"Yow!" Gazzy yelled, prompting another laser, this one missing him.

"Did it get you?" Max asked.

"No-- just burned a hole through my boot. Missed my toes."

Angel was beside me, slowly sinking to the floor, struggling because of her ankle. I held her elbow, helping her to sit without triggering a laser.

"Okay," Max said, managing to speak quietly and use her leader voice, "everyone, let's just stay still. No sudden moves. These things are clearly hair-trigger, and I don't want any holes burned through more important stuff, like our heads."

Slowly, we all sat down on the floor. It took, like, five minutes for us all to sit down, we were moving so slowly. Once I was down, Angel gradually lowered her head into my lap and went to sleep. Max was watching us with a tiny smile on her face, and again I thought of this scenario ten years in the future, in a non-life-threatening situation, with a different little girl.

"Fine, they can have me if they want, but why drag Akila into this?" Total griped, protectively putting his paw on Akila's side. "She didn't do anything!"

Again, the similarities between me and the mutant dog were disturbing. We both would risk ourselves for our respective… females.

How sweet.

"I'm sorry," Max said through gritted teeth. "On the other hand, if they'd left her, she might be dead by now."

"Hmph!" Total harrumphed, nestling closer to Akila. At least _she_ didn't push _him_ away.

At the exact moment I thought this, though, Max slowly scooted closer to me. I could not remember the last time she had voluntarily done this. She sat close enough that we were hip-to-hip, and then, wonder of wonders, she lazily lay her head on my shoulder.

Our moment was interrupted, _again_, when the door to the cargo area swung open, and Gozen came in, each footstep echoing.

"Who are you?" Nudge asked, lifting her chin, as if daring him to attack.

"I am Gozen," he said.

Nudge tilted her head to the side and thought for a moment. "Like Japanese dumplings?"

**Guess what? If I manage to keep up with daily updates-- which I think I will-- this story has less than two weeks left!**


	62. Chapter 62

**Hello, wonderful readers! Just wanted to drop a quick note-- somebody asked about the state of my drabbles, and whether I would be posting any more. At this point, probably not, because most of those depended on random inspiration. However, I might try to muster up ten more and get to one hundred. So, my answer is maybe.**

**Okay, so, happy reading!**

"That would be _gyoza_," I told Nudge, because I couldn't resist.

"Where do you come from, Gozen?" Max asked sarcastically-conversationally, a way of speaking she created herself. "Whose henchman are you?"

Gozen looked at Max, so he also turned in my direction, and I saw for the first time that his eyes were, um, blue. Odd. "I am Gozen. I am the leader. You will be quiet."

"Good luck with that," Iggy said under his breath, and I smirked.

"We will be landing in fourteen hours, thirty-nine minutes," Gozen informed us in his metallic voice.

_Oh, good, _I thought. _Fifteen hours with the Japanese dumplings._

"Where are we going?" Max asked, just to see if he would answer. You never know how smart or stupid the enemy is.

"That is not your concern."

Oh, boy.

Max jumped to her feet, triggering a couple of lasers, which she nimbly avoided. "Au contraire, Your Trollness. We're very concerned. We have _appointments_. Places to go, people to see. Now tell us where the hell we're going!"

Less than a millisecond later, Gozen kicked Max's feet right out from under her. As soon as she went down, I was lifting Angel's head out of my lap and standing up. Before I could get to Max, though, Gozen had kicked her side so hard I heard a _thump_ where his foot hit the bone.

My blood starting boiling in my veins. _Nobody_ touched Max like that. The only thing stopping me from launching forward and killing Gozen was Max, laying on the ground in pain, frantically waving her hand in a signal not to attack.

"You do not give orders," Gozen commanded. "You follow orders."

Max bit her lip, probably to resist a sarcastic remark. I moved behind her, helping her sit up, then stand.

"We are against global warming," Gozen announced.

"Uh-huh," Max said as we started creeping away from him, step by step, my arm securely around her waist, supporting her. "That's good."

"Therefore we are violently opposed to your kind," he added.

"But we're against it too!" Max said, even though she was only going along with the scientists because the rest of us wanted to stay. "We were in Antarctica helping to stop global warming!"

"No," Gozen said flatly. "Humans created the problem. Humans are destroying the earth. You are destroying life."

"Okay, now, see, you're wrong here on a bunch of levels," Max said, still having to lean on me. I desperately hoped she wasn't about to mouth off again, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to control my rage if Gozen attacked. "First, we're not even completely human! Did you miss the wings? I mean, jeez. Plus, as I just pointed out, we were trying to stop global warming! We're totally against it!"

"Yeah!" Gazzy piped up. I'd been so engrossed with protecting Max that I'd almost forgotten about the rest of the flock. "We're trying to save the world! It's our mission!"

Bad move.

Gozen's menacing eyes turned to Gazzy, and Max whirled out of my grasp, wincing, to stand between them. I sucked in a big breath, moving as close as possible so I could help her if needed.

"You are part of the problem," Gozen said. "I will enjoy your death." My heart pounded in my chest, thinking he was going to take Max down now. But then he turned and left the cargo area, the door shutting behind him.

I looked at Max, making sure she was okay. Then I said, "That guy has no sense of humor."

"No," Max said, slowly lowering herself to the floor. I sat beside her. "And I've thought of something else, much worse."

"What?" Nudge asked anxiously.

"We have fourteen hours to go," Max sighed. "And I doubt we're getting meal service or in-flight entertainment."

I smirked, and then our eyes met. After one long second, Max gave me a tiny smile back. And I decided that everything was going to turn out fine.

**How sweet. Okay. Review?**


	63. Chapter 63

"Everyone okay?" Max asked.

All I could see was the blackness around me, but I could still hear Max's voice through our body bags. The flock called out their yeses, and I nodded before realizing she couldn't see me, so I grunted.

"This bites," Max said, sighing dramatically. "Boring."

I was twitching, trying to break the duct tape bounding my hands and ankles, to no avail. We'd been tied up for about two hours now, and not being able to see the others was making me really anxious. I wondered if this was how Iggy felt all the time.

_Sometimes, _Angel said in my head. _When he's not thinking about Nudge._

_Okay, _I thought back, then backtracked. _Wait, what? Nudge?_

Angel giggled, but didn't say anything else. Before I could try to get some juicy gossip, though, one of the robots was opening my body bag and removing the duct tape. I immediately started looking around, trying to figure out where we were, and saw a big room. Through the windows, I saw lots of other buildings, tall like the one we were in. There was a beach nearby, water not looking particularly inviting because of the rain falling hard and fast.

As soon as Max was free, she was heading toward one of the big windows, but Gozen said, "These windows have been rated for hurricane-force winds of up to one hundred twenty miles per hour. They do not open from the inside." To prove his point, he slammed into the window and actually rebounded off of it. Max and I exchanged a sour look.

"The auction will beging in one hour," Gozen announced. "Food will be provided."

_Ooh, good, _I thought, then realized it probably wasn't for us. I watched Gozen head for the door. Once he was gone, Max said thoughtfully, "You know, he's really a people person."

"What auction was he talking about?" Gazzy asked, letting his wings out a little.

"No clue," Max said, observing the room, trying to find a way out. There was none, though-- they had this place locked up good.

"Now what?" Angel asked, limping toward a table with chairs, her ankle obviously still bothering her. Max pulled one of the chairs out for her, and she sunk down, closing her eyes in pain.

"Iggy?" Max asked worriedly. He walked over to them, touching Angel's arm, the one Gozen had hurt. It occurred to me that Gozen had beaten Max up pretty bad, too, but she wasn't worrying about herself at all. "Is there anything you can do?"

"It's really swollen," Iggy said, then paused. "It feels like a clean break. Let me see… so to speak." He started moving her arm around, and we all watched intently. Then something clicked, and Angel breathed out.

"Oh, that feels better," she said, smiling. "Still really bad, but less bad. Thanks, Iggy."

I reached over and patted Angel's head. Max slipped off her jacket and ripped it up, twisting it into a deformed sling for Angel's arm. Once the sling was in place, Max looked up at me and smiled, and one corner of my mouth quirked.

"Now what?" Gazzy asked.

"Fan out, check the perimeter," Max said, breaking our eye contact. I sighed and started looking around, as did everyone besides Angel, but there was almost nothing in the room besides the table and chairs.

Nudge kneeled in front of one of the doors, murmuring to herself. Max kneeled down beside her, and I stood back with Iggy.

"So, Nudge," I murmured to him so only we could hear.

"What?" he asked as if he had no idea what I was talking about, but his pale face flushed a little. "Nudge what?"

"Angel told me you got a little crush," I said in a singsong voice. "Isn't that just adorable? How long, Igster?"

He opened his mouth, whether to answer or to cuss me out I don't know, but then Nudge shrieked, and we both turned quickly in her direction. She was laying on her back, breathing hard, her hair sticking up in every direction.

"The locks are bobby-trapped," she breathed, sitting up slowly. "So much for my new skill."

"My new skill was no help either," Angel said. It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about, and then I remembered the freaky turning-into-a-real-bird thing. Yeah, I wouldn't think that would be of much help.

"And since we're not surrounded by snow, I'm still blind," Iggy griped beside me. "On the other hand, this carpet is a tasteful ecru, with a thin cinnamon stripe close to the wall."

You know, if we weren't freaks, Iggy might have a future in interior decorating.

Max looked to me for help, but I had nothing, so I shrugged in that oh-so-helpful way of mine. She looked at the ceiling. "So now I guess we wait."


	64. Chapter 64

**It's the birdseed chapter! : P A lot of people mentioned it in their reviews, I had no idea everyone loved that part so much until I read the reviews! Well, anyway, here it is. : )**

We did get food, but I wouldn't exactly call it a five-course meal. Well, there were five items, but they didn't really correspond. The robot soldiers brought in sagging sandwiches, an apple for each of us, a loaf of bread, and a bowl of dog food. When they had left, Total made a face and nudged the bowl to Akila with his nose, then turned around and grabbed a slice of bread.

I glanced outside to see that it was still storming, even harder than before. Thunder was shaking the walls around us, lightning making the room light up every so often. We weren't fazed; we just kept chomping on those sandwiches.

"Oh, my God!" Nudge exclaimed suddenly, leaning over a tray I hadn't noticed before. I watched her peer into a bowl on the tray. "Oh, my God!"

"What?" Max asked, springing up from where she was eating and running to Nudge. "What?"

She stared at the tray, speechless. I furrowed my brow and stood, wondering if it was a bomb and, if it was, why she wasn't shifting into battle mode.

"It's just seeds!" Nudge said, and I relaxed. "Not even like a granola bar. It's birdseed!"

We stood there a moment, and then it clicked. Birdseed. They… they thought we would want to eat birdseed.

Holy.

Freaking.

Crap.

I busted out laughing at the same time as everyone else. I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed at all, much less with this level of hilarity. It felt good, too, especially when I looked across the room and saw Max doubled over, tears of laughter flowing down her cheeks.

"Oh, God, no!" she shrieked happily, clutching her stomach. "Don't make me laugh!"

"Nummy!" Gazzy thrust his hand down in the bowl, seeds surrounding his fist. "Could I get some worms with this?"

"Stop! Stop!" Max barely managed.

I put my hands on my knees to support myself. Oh, man, this was good. This was just… wow.

"What? Seeds?" Iggy asked through his chuckles, touching the ones on the surface of the bowl. "Is this really birdseed? 'Cause we're birds?"

"I'm nodding, Ig," Max giggled cutely.

"This is too much," I gasped out, turning to lean back against the wall. "Too much! Birdseed! Oh, God."

"What's for dessert? Caterpillars?" she joked, and I burst into another bout of laughter. This was probably not going to happen again for a long, long time, but I was glad it did once.

"Did they bring us a bunch of nesting material?" Gazzy added. "'Cause I'm beat."

The laughter reached its peak. My sides were really starting to hurt, but still I laughed. Even when the door opened and Gozen entered, we struggled to compose ourselves. That moment was probably their best chance to get us, but they missed out.

"You will not find the rest of the day amusing," Gozen said solemnly, obviously not joining our little party. "Follow me. The auction is about to begin. As is the hurricane."

Sucking in a breath, then blowing it out, I straightened up and met Max's eyes. Though they were still full of laughter, I could tell she didn't have any idea what Gozen was talking about, either.

"Question," she said, raising her head like we were at school. A real one, I mean. "What auction are we talking about? And did you just say hurricane?"

"The Uber-Director is auctioning you off to the highest bidder. He expects you to bring a great deal of money."

I probably should have been focusing on the fact that we were being sold like designer handbags on eBay, but I was too caught up on the word Uber-Director. Talk about a lack of creativity when choosing your title.

"I'm flattered," Max said sweetly. "What are we being sold for?"

"Whatever they want."

"And the hurricane?" she pressed.

I bristled, then stepped closer to Max, noticing how Gozen's glowing eyes suddenly grew brighter, more menacing.

"There is a Category four hurricane about to make a direct hit on Miami," he said.

"Uh-huh," Max said, and I closed my eyes, wishing she would stop while she was ahead. "Does anyone seem, um, concerned about that? Category four is one of the big ones, right?"

"The city has been evacuated," Gozen said.

"But not us?"

"No." He turned around, facing the open door, waiting for us to leave ahead of him. Max stepped forward, but I quickly moved in front of her and led the others out. I don't know if she realized that I was trying to make sure she didn't talk to Gozen, but I didn't really care. As long as she was safe.

**Ooh, if you read BYAM… just posted the last chapter maybe an hour ago. Just letting you know.**

**Review?**


	65. Chapter 65

**Oops, didn't update yesterday. Was busy. Sorry!**

The first thing I saw when I entered the huge conference room Gozen directed us to was some kind of… fish tank person. There was what looked like a spinal cord, and one of the fish tank things held his head. Attached to the spinal cord were other clear boxes, each containing what I assumed was an internal organ. All the boxes, the spinal cord, and the head were stuffed in the seat of a big wheelchair.

"I am the Uber-Director," he said in a flat, mechanical tone. We just looked at him, and he added, "I've been concerned with you for quite some time."

"That makes… almost one of us," Max said, her eyes skimming over the head, the boxes, the wheelchair.

I think the UD smiled, but his face was sort of deformed, so it was hard to tell. "I find you very… interesting. From a scientific viewpoint, of course."

"Uh-huh," Max said, clearly not interested in what a scientific miracle we were. We'd heard it plenty of times before. "I have a bit of scientific curiosity myself. Listen, how do they keep your boxes clean? Like, with an aquarium vacuum, or what?"

I smirked. Told you they looked like fish tanks.

Apparently the UD could pick up on smart aleck teenage girls, as his head-- and the whole box it was in-- turned to look at Gozen. Immediately, Gozen marched toward Max, and I froze as he reached out to grab her arm. Dang, I'd been so caught up in thinking about the fish tanks I hadn't been making sure she kept her mouth shut.

Luckily, Max was able to dart away from him and jump onto the big table in the middle of the room, whisking out her wings, ready to attack.

The sight of her-- glaring, snarling, and, oh yeah, gorgeous-- stopped Gozen in his tracks.

I kept my eyes on her, even as hers shifted to the UD, and her brow furrowed. "Uh, you okay, UD? Is it okay if I call you UD? Is he okay? Does he need a feed bag hooked up or something?"

I started to turn, to see what she was talking about, but then Gozen did charge forward, slamming his fist down on the end of the table. It split it half, one crack right down the middle, and Max jumped back, standing on the other end. I looked up and noticed how low the ceiling was. If Gozen hit the table again, Max would shoot right up and whack her head on the light fixture.

A quiet voice behind me said, "Enough, Gozen," and Gozen automatically moved away from the table. I turned, wondering if that had really been the UD, and it turned out it was. Huh.

"Get off the table," he said to Max. She made a face and jumped down, shaking out her wings cockily, knowing she'd won this one. "The auction is about to begin. Once the monitors are on, you will all be silent."

Beside me, Gazzy snickered, and I just had to, too. I mean, come on. Hadn't he figured out by now that no one could get Max to shut up?

Well… I got her to shut up those two times I kissed her. But that was something I'd rather not think about.

"Do you have anything to say before the monitors are activated?" the UD asked Max.

"Yes," she said. "A hamster called. He wants his home back."

Damn, I loved that girl.

**Reviews make me really, really happy…**


	66. Chapter 66

A moment later, each of the huge TV screens covering one wall turned on. There was one person on each screen, each a man or woman who obviously had a lot of power, based on the fancy offices behind them.

Max put her hand on her hip and turned to the Uber-Director. "What, eBay isn't good enough for us?"

Iggy was standing beside me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. I nudged him slightly and asked, very quietly, "What is it?"

"Gazzy has a new skill," he said happily, and I decided I really didn't want to know much else.

"Here are the objects available for auction," the UD said, motioning to us like we were baseball cards or something. I felt my jaw tighten at being spoken of that way. "They are in decent shape, though one is damaged."

Angel sighed. I reached over and patted her shoulder.

"Do they have any… liabilities?" a woman asked, squinting at us.

"Besides our woeful fashion sense?" Max snapped. The woman recoiled, her eyes wide with shock. Apparently, we were supposed to be the _silent_ mutant miracles. "Our lack of commitment to personal hygiene?"

"You will be silent!" the UD commanded. I glanced over at Gozen to see if he was coming over, but he wasn't, and I relaxed.

Max ignored him, looking right at the screens. "I guess it depends on whether you consider a complete inability to follow orders a _liability_."

"Silence!" the UD yelled. He coughed, then turned back to the screens with a slightly more pleasant look on his face. "As you can see, they are functional, with a limited, though useful, intelligence."

"Limited intelligence?" Max asked angrily, wheeling to face the UD. "Bite me! You're kind of the last person to talk about _limitations_! At least I can… swim! And fly! And digest by myself!"

"Yeah, or how about this?" the Gasman asked before Gozen got a chance to attack Max, and I had a feeling I was about to witness the new skill for the first time. I was right.

I had never heard a fart like that. And that is saying something, having known Gazzy for eight years. This was the first time, too, that the fart had a _visual_: the green and yellow gas surrounding all of our heads.

"Ah, that's better," came Gazzy's voice from somewhere within the cloud. "Better out than in!"

Total, coughing and muttering, hid under the big table. I closed my eyes and tried not to breathe.

"Whoa!" I heard Max yell in a choked voice. "What have you been eating? Kryptonite? Nuclear waste?"

"What is that?"

"Who did that?"

"What does this mean?"

The people who were bidding for us sounded either confused, horrified, disgusted, or a combination of the three. If I could speak, I would have answered them: That was natural human gas, it was Gazzy, and it means that if you used him as a weapon, a dog could follow his scent and track him down in no time.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Max moving toward the screens, saying something to them, but I couldn't make out what it was, my brain was so fried.

"It's a new skill!" Gazzy yelled happily, jumping in the air, clearly not feeling the need to cover his nose like the rest of us.

Nudge was hitting one of the ultra-safe windows repeatedly with her fist. "Why don't these windows _open_?"

"You are the _man_!" Iggy called out, high-fiving the Gasman. Glad _somebody_ enjoyed it.

Anyway, after that, the bidders' interest in us decreased considerably. We decided to raise a little more hell, make it diminish completely.

And that it did. Everyone became the most obnoxious they could possibly be, mostly by being loud, disruptive, or, in Iggy's case, gross. (He was picking his nose.) I, however, chose the silent way out-- blending into a big mural covering one wall. The bidding went on for an hour, with the UD becoming more and more frustrated, because the bidders were a lot more reluctant.

At one point, I was watching Max jump on the broken conference table and swinging her head around, making a lot of racket, when she suddenly stopped and motioned to everyone to back up toward the wall I was on. The UD and Gozen didn't notice, so everyone scurried to a new spot, then continued with what they were doing.

I followed her worried gaze and found what it was: the windows were starting to shake slightly. The storm outside was definitely getting worse.

"Attention!" The UD's voice suddenly filled the room. I hadn't been paying attention to what was going on, but now I saw he was glaring at all the screens in front of him. "Can we return to the business at hand? There's a bid on the table of half a billion dollars. Can I hear three-quarters of a billion?"

Wow. We're hot stuff.

"One more thing," Max said loudly. All the heads on the screens swiveled toward her. She was still standing on that table, her wings slightly out, hands on her hips. "We all have expiration dates. If you buy us, you should know that it's a limited-time offer. We're probably single-use mutants, pretty much."

"A single use might be all that's required of you," the UD said, casting a shut-your-face-now look at Max. When he turned around, she smirked and rolled her eyes.

That was the last thing I saw before a humongous roar filled my ears and thousands of pieces of shattered glass were flying at me.

**Review?**


	67. Chapter 67

The wind lifted us off our feet, flinging the others into the wall I was already leaning on. Max had been still standing on that table, so she received the hardest blow, flying-- not with her wings, mind you-- face-first into the wall and promptly falling onto her back.

"Gozen!" the UD yelled. I could just barely hear him over the wind and the worry over Max. I was starting toward her when she looked up at me and waved her hand toward the table she'd just fallen from.

"Flock!" she yelled, struggling to her feet. "Get down! Under the table!"

I knew better than to question her orders when she used that voice, so I grabbed whoever was closest-- Angel, it turned out-- and took them with me as I hurried under the table. Max was right behind us, dragging Akila by her diamond-studded collar.

"Can we fly out?" Gazzy asked, looking wildly around, obviously freaked.

Max and I looked at each other for a brief second before shaking our heads. "The wind is too strong," I told him. I turned back to Max. "We should get out into the hallway."

She nodded and went to issue some more orders, but stopped when she noticed Angel. I quickly looked down at her, worried she'd been hurt more, but that wasn't what was wrong. I couldn't figure out what was.

"What is it, Ange?" Max asked.

Angel pointed to one of the big screens, and I realized that it wasn't just a webcam, but a real TV, and there was now a real channel on-- the news. "There's a hurricane report on TV. It says it's almost a Category five, and they think it was caused by global warming."

"There have always been hurricanes," Max told her.

Okay, so, it probably wasn't the time to show off my handy dandy global warming knowledge, but I just had to. Despite what happened with Brigid and Michael, I thought that the scientists who _weren't_ pedophiles were onto something with the whole manmade global warming thing. And I also thought that, as the person supposed to save the world, Max should take it seriously, too. "Not at this time of year. Plus, there are many, many more of them now, and they tend to be stronger and more destructive."

Max scowled, but said, "Okay, maybe global warming is bad."

I rolled my eyes, then decided my moment of being a know-it-all was over. For now. Time to get back to business. "Category fives have winds more than a hundred fifty-five miles an hour. In other words, enough to rip most things apart. Including us. There's no way we can fly in it."

"Okay, hallway it is," she said, craning her neck to look. "We'll get out there and see if there's any place we can wait out the storm. Fang, you're in charge of Akila."

_Oh, good, _I thought as the huge ball of fur was shoved into my lap.

"We are _not_ leaving her!" Total barked-- ha, he barked, get it?

"I know," Max said dismissively. "Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel, stick as close to me as possible. Everybody ready?"

Everybody's eyes fell on hers, and she took a second to look at each of them, lingering on mine last. "Okay. Let's do this thing."

**Guess what? Seven more chapters! That's one week until this story is complete!**


	68. Chapter 68

Iggy and I took off our huge coats, the ones we still had from Antarctica, and started ripping them to pieces. While we quickly did that, the rest of the flock shed their coats, since the air around us was suddenly very humid, with the window being smashed in.

We tied the cloths end-to-end, creating two separate lengths of rope. I took one and tied it to Akila's collar, triple-knotting it just in case, and Iggy took the other to wrap around Total's middle.

"Whoa!" Total said, wriggling around. "I am not wearing a leash!"

"It's not a leash!" Max told him irritably. "It's so we don't lose you!"

"Gozen!" The Uber-Director seemed to have finally caught on to the fact that we were, you know, planning our getaway right there in plain sight. "Don't let them escape!"

As Gozen lumbered toward us, Max shoved Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel out from under the table first. "Kids! Go!" Iggy went next, and then Max and I crawled along after them, each of us holding one of the dogs' leashes-- er, I mean… yeah, leashes.

We were almost out of the conference room, heading toward the closed doors, when the wind opened the door, slamming it against the wall. The same breeze then lifted all eight of us into the air and threw us into the hallway, where we almost hit the ceiling, and Nudge actually did.

I looked for Gozen as we fell to the floor, but he seemed to have forgotten all about us, moving instead to lean over the UD's wheelchair, using his huge body to protect him against the wind.

"Go with the flow!" Max screamed, sitting up. "Go with nature! Fang! Get Akila!"

I had no idea what this 'go with nature' thing was all about, but I lifted Akila into my arms anyway, grunting as I struggled to hold her up, as Max grabbed Total.

Then she let her wings out, very slightly, and the wind immediately caught them, lifting her up, and I understood what she meant.

I turned to Iggy, tapped his hand, and said, "Let your wings out a little, Ig, and the wind will carry you."

Nodding at the rest of the flock to follow me, I did the same as Max and was carried down the long hallway, giving Max the thumbs up when she looked back to check on us.

"Go with the flow!" she yelled over her shoulder before facing forward again. A second later, she turned around fully, frantically waving her arms. "Wait! I take it back! _Don't go with the flow_!"

Confused, I craned my neck to see what had her in such a panic, and then saw it: hurricane proof windows, just like the ones in the conference room, too close for us not to hit, at the speed we were going.

Well, crap.

**You know the drill!**


	69. Chapter 69

I closed my eyes, braced for impact, as the windows came rushing at me, faster and faster. Max was slightly ahead of me, so I knew she would hit the glass first. The worst part was that there was no way for me to help her.

But then the glass shattered. I didn't have time to open my eyes before I, too, was flying through the glass, clutching Akila, one piece of it sticking in my sock. I shook it off and looked around me: the flock was all there, Max had Total, and there was no blood on anybody. So far, so good.

When we smashed the glass, the stuff in the building followed us out: chairs, fake plants, end tables. All the things from the office were whirling with us, and I had to duck to avoid being hit by one of the chair's legs.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max be whisked into an entirely different direction than the rest of us. I started to flap, trying to move toward her, but then I felt Akila slide down my front. I tried to hoist her back up against my chest, but she kept slipping.

"Iggy!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, only able to hope he'd hear me over the wind. Fortunately, he did, turning his face in my direction. "Help me with Akila!"

He managed to get close enough to grab Akila and lift her up. I tried to hold her by myself, then almost dropped her again. We struggled for a minute, then sort of figured it out. I held Akila and Iggy supported her rump, and it seemed fine.

Until the wind stopped blowing, the rain stopped falling, and we were no longer supported by the storm.

We started to fall.

Iggy and I tried in vain to both flap our wings and hold on to Akila, but our grips were getting looser and looser, her wet fur slipping through our fingers. And then, she was free-falling, no wings to save her.

"Oh, man," Iggy said quietly.

"I know," I replied, closing my eyes. What would we tell the others? What would we tell _Total_?

"We're in the eye of the storm!" Max screamed, snapping us back to attention. I looked over to see her gesturing frantically to the ground. She and the others descended. I watched them land on the ground and Max immediately start checking them for injuries.

"We should go," Iggy said.

"Yeah," I sighed, and with that, we both headed downward.

As soon as we landed, Max looked up and said "Where's--", then stopped abruptly. Our faces must have given us away, because she covered her mouth with her hand and cast a sad look toward Total, who was sitting at her feet.

A shadow passed over us, and I looked up. "Gozen."

Max looked at me. I pointed at the sky, and we both gazed upward again. Now, I saw that Gozen was joined by the UD, all his pieces sitting in the wheelchair. I started to open my mouth to ask Max what we should do, but she was already launching herself into the air, headed right toward them.

**Ooh. Max about to fight!**

**Five chapters left, guys. It's really coming to an end. : P**


	70. Chapter 70

I started to follow Max up, but Iggy grabbed my arm. "No, dude. Stay here."

"But she's--"

"She's Max. She's fine."

I swallowed and watched Max kicked Gozen's arm, which made him release the UD's wheelchair he was clinging to. They both started falling, but Max caught the arm of the UD's chair. I had no idea what she was doing, why she didn't just let him fall, like Gozen.

"I can _hear_ you sucking in your breath," Iggy said, a smirk in his voice. "Jeez, calm down, lover boy."

After quickly making sure that his favorite bird girl was a few feet away, I retorted, "You'd be up there in a heartbeat if it was Nudge."

That shut him up.

I watched the UD speak to Max, and Max reply. Then, to my relief, Max let go of the UD. I watched him swirl through the air for a few seconds before all his boxes started flying out of the wheelchair, going in all kinds of directions.

It was taking Max a while to safely get out of the eye of the hurricane, so I turned to check on the flock while we waited. "Everybody okay?"

I found three bird kids looking at me with wide, sad eyes. As soon as I saw Angel, her bottom lip quivering, I knew what was going on: she'd found out about Akila from either Iggy's mind or mine, and mentally told the others. I gave her a grave look and glanced down at Total, wondering if he knew.

_He doesn't,_ Angel said.

As if to prove this, Total looked up at me and asked, "Where's my queen?"

"Um, Total," I began, watching his expectant face. Okay, emotional talking thing… not my forte… how are you supposed to say this kind of thing? "We couldn't hold onto Akila. She was too heavy."

"Her obesity killed her," Iggy said gravely from behind me. "Just like so many Americans."

I kicked him, never taking my eyes off of Total, who had flopped onto his back and started wailing. Angel knelt beside him and petted him comfortingly.

I watched them, feeling really, really sad, until I saw Max land. We caught each other's gaze right away, and she shook her head, looking as sad as I felt.

Suddenly, Angel looked up, squinting. "Akila."

Max moved toward her. "I know, sweetie. I'm so sorry."

"No," Angel insisted, standing up and pointing. "_Akila_."

"Huh?" Max asked, but it ended in sort of a squawk, because Akila had come from nowhere, flying out of the sky, and crashed into her.

I slid to my knees beside them. Akila appeared to be unconscious, so I held my ear to her side, hoping to hear a heartbeat. Luckily, I heard the steady _lub-lub, lub-lub_, and said, "She's alive."

"Uh, can you get her off me?" Max asked croakily. Smirking, I lifted Akila off of Max's chest just as she began to stir. As soon as I set her down, Total was rushing toward her, yelling, "Akila! Akila! I thought we had lost you forever!" He started licking her face, and I shook my head, remembering all the times I'd compared my romantic situation with Total's, and how I would not be licking Max's cheek like a freaking _dog_.

I had lips for that.

**Hahaha. Ha.**

**I haven't been getting many reviews lately, guys. Anybody there? If you are… let me know… : )**


	71. Chapter 71

**Three more!**

I guess what we went through in that hurricane really put something in perspective for Max, much like it did for me. And for once, it didn't have to do with my unfailing love for Max, like most of my thoughts and life lessons seemed to be connected to. No, actually, this had to do with Total and Akila.

When we dropped Akila and thought she was gone, I really did sort of miss her. And then I saw Total, sobbing on the ground, and realized that I cared enough about him that I didn't want him to be in all that pain. I could relate; if I lost Max, I'd collapse in tears, too.

Okay, so maybe it was about Max. But most things are with me.

Anyway, back to _Max's_ big lesson. As we flew over the destroyed city of Miami, she uttered three words I never thought I'd hear from her.

"You were right."

Surprised, I looked over at her, but she kept her eyes on the ground. "Global warming is something we have to help stop."

Now would have been the perfect time to 'fess up about Brigid, tell her why I'd been hanging around her, say _she_ had had every right to be mad at me for doing so. But I decided to remain the victor, at least for a little while. "What was that?" I asked, smirking. "What did you say? Could you repeat that?"

Max scowled at me and swooped a little closer so she could lightly smack my right wing with her left. I smiled, but ducked my head so she wouldn't see. "So what now, hot stuff?" she asked. "I have to tell you, I'm not loving the idea of going back to Antarctica. That place is like living inside a big fridge."

"I was thinking we'd get something to eat, then call Dr. Martinez," I said.

I watched Max's face light up, which made my heart do the same. And then she grinned at me, her hair blowing around her face. "An excellent notion."

Our eyes stayed locked on each other for about half another second, but there was so much said in that one moment, enough that I decided to reach out and tweak my best friend's nose, eternalizing her playful swat and the way her cheeks flushed beautifully when I did so.

**Awww. : D Review, please?**


	72. Chapter 72

**Forced Faxness! YEAH!**

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

I leaned on the door of the hotel room bathroom. We were in Washington, D.C., about a week after the Miami fiasco, because Max's mom had somehow talked her into giving a speech on global warming in front of Congress.

Yeah, I was shocked, too.

That's not even the most surprising part, though. The thing that just about knocked me over was when Dr. Martinez told us she had bought Max a dress and that she was in the other room trying it on.

That was what brought me to the door now-- I wanted to see it.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Uh… sure…"

A second later, the door opened, and there she was, wearing a knee-length white dress with a black sash around the middle. It was modest, with thick spaghetti straps and a neckline about an inch under her collarbone, but it still showed every perfect angle and curve of her body.

I finished taking in the dress and looked back at her face. Her cheeks were stained pink, as she was clearly embarrassed.

"It looks good," I told her seriously. Actually, it looked gorgeous, beyond beautiful, but I figured that saying that would only get the door slammed in my face.

Max shrugged and went back inside the room, facing the full-length mirror on one wall. I followed her in, letting the door fall shut behind me. "I don't know. It just… it's just not _me_."

"I think it's you," I said quietly, coming up so I was standing right behind her. In the mirror's reflection, I saw Max, angelic in her dress with her clean blonde hair falling on her shoulders, and me, standing behind her, watching her. "Maybe you can't fight in it, but it shows how beautiful you are."

She snapped her head around to stare at me, but I had already made my instinctive move, stepping closer and wrapping my arms around her waist from behind, resting my chin on her shoulder. I waited for her to pull away, but she actually leaned back into me, playing with my fingers curled around her middle.

"You think?" Max asked, studying herself. I nodded, my heart soaring, enjoying this peaceful moment with my best friend. Maybe we would never be able to become more, but we still had each other. That was all I needed to know.

Just as I thought she was softening up, just as I thought she was going to stand there and let me hold her, she twisted out of my arms and reached back to untie the sash. "Well, it's not practical. If we got attacked, I'd be at a disadvantage." I stood there and watched her expressionlessly until she scowled and said, "Get out of here so I can change, you pig!"

Some things never change.

0000000000

And so here we were, standing outside the room where Congress meets (don't expect me to know what it's called; I'm no genius birdkid). I was standing next to Max as we waited for the time to go give her speech, and I could feel her shaking.

"I'm gonna barf," she said to me.

"You'll be fine," I told her, trying not to laugh as I noticed the sweat beading on her forehead. "You always are."

"I'm gonna die," she groaned, placing her forehead on my shoulder.

I chuckled softly and raised my hand to pat the back of her head. "You can't die. You're the indestructible Max."

"I've never faced anything this hard before," Max said, her voice muffled by my shirt. I started to reply, possibly to remind her that speaking in front of people was hardly as much of a challenge as taking down Itex, but then her mom appeared in the doorway, calling her name.

I watched Max stand straight up, blushing at being caught leaning on me, and look down at the t-shirt, windbreaker and jeans she'd decided to wear. While the ensemble wasn't as mesmerizing as that dress, she was still pretty, because Max could make a paper bag look good.

"Okay, do you have your notes?" Brigid came up to us and directed the question at Max, but I saw her try to catch my eye. I wasn't stupid; there was a reason she was wearing a dress with a plunging neckline. But I didn't even glance at it, instead choosing to hold her gaze and let her know I wasn't giving in.

_Go, Fang! _Angel chanted in my head. _You show her!_

_Shut up._

"Yep," Max answered, showing her the stack of papers in her hand. Most of the speech had been prepared by the scientists, since Max pretty much only agreed to this to please her mom, but she'd contributed a little bit, too.

"I think they're ready for you," Dr. Martinez said, pulling the door open, letting the sound of voices reach our ears. I glanced at Max. She was biting her lip, looking at the ceiling, clearly having second thoughts.

"This is your mission," Jeb chimed in. I really wished that mole hadn't come. "You're fulfilling your mission right now, right here."

Max nodded and started toward the door. I was right behind her, the other following me, and as I passed Jeb, I gave him a hard glare. None of us were sure whether he was a good guy or bad, but here was what I did know: he'd hurt Max, and the rest of us. And he was not going to get us to completely trust him again, because we'd be hurt again.

Then I had another thought: if I grew up and married Max, like I wanted to so much, _that_ guy would be my father-in-law.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

**I must say, I'm glad that this story is drawing to a close. I enjoyed writing it at first, when I was fully obsessed with Maximum Ride, but ever since I just sort of lost interest, writing this has really been a grind. But I'm glad for my readers, the reason I finished. : )**

**Anyway. Thoughts on my made-up Fax moment? It sounded better in my head. Haha.**


	73. Chapter 73

**Guys, I'm gonna tell you now-- this is the chapter where Max gives her big long speech, and typing up that dialogue took more time that anything. But I did try to spice it up a little. Read at your own risk! : P**

The flock stood in a line behind Max as she stepped up to the microphone and gulped very audibly. She accidentally breathed into the microphone and made it screech loudly, and I smirked as she jumped, startled.

Finally, she composed herself and looked at the papers in her hands.

"Thank you for inviting me here today. I'm here to testify about things I've seen and experienced myself. I'm here because the human race has become more powerful than ever. We've gone to the moon. Our crops resist diseases and pests. We can stop and restart a human heart. And we've harvested vast amounts of energy for everything from night-lights to enormous super-jets. We've even created new kinds of people…" Max hesitated, and then added, "like me."

Like her. I watched her shift slightly, run a hand through her clean hair, meaning she was nervous and uncomfortable and wanting to burst out a window. I tried to imagine being locked in a cage as a scared little kid with no tough blonde girl in the cage beside me, telling me that it was okay, I was fine, stop crying. I tried to imagine waking up to find Jeb gone, nowhere to be found, the house stripped of all his belongings, without Max to exchange a knowing look with me. I tried to imagine being on the run for this past year without her beautiful face to keep me going. I couldn't imagine where I'd be without her, didn't even want to think about it.

"Look." Max's voice cut into my thoughts, and I snapped to attention, instinctively thinking she was talking to me. Then I remembered where we were: in Washington D.C., in front of Congress, trying to get some global _cooling_ going on. Right. "There's a lot of official stuff I could quote and put up on the screen with PowerPoint. But what you need to know, what the world needs to know, is that we're really destroying the earth in a bigger and more catastrophic way than anyone has ever imagined.

"I mean, I've seen a lot of the world, the only world we have. There are so many awesome, beautiful things in it. Waterfalls and mountains, thermal pools surrounded by ice and snow as far as you can see. Beautiful beaches with sand like white sugar. Fields and fields of wildflowers. Places where the ocean crashes up against a mountainside, like it's done for hundreds of thousands of years."

Was this what she thought about while we were on the run, running from state to state, seeing all those different places? I never would have guessed. Now that I thought about it, I guessed they were pretty, but it was never really a priority in my mind. Huh.

"I've also seen concrete cities with hardly any green. And rivers whose pretty rainbow surfaces came from an oil leak upstream. Animals are becoming extinct right now, in my lifetime. Just recently, I went through one of the worst hurricanes ever recorded. It was a whole lot worse because of huge, worldwide climatic changes caused by… us. We, the people."

'We the People of the United States," she said, louder, 'in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Iggy, beside me, muttered, "What's with all the big words? Your girlfriend's turning into a geek."

I elbowed him in the ribs, and he _oof_ed. Max turned around to glare at him, then continued talking. "A more perfect union? While huge corporations do whatever they want to whoever they want, and other people live in subway tunnels? Where's the justice of that? Kids right here in America go to bed hungry every night, while other people get four-hundred-dollar haircuts. Promote the general welfare? Where's the general welfare of strip-mining, toxic pesticides, industrial solvents being dumped into rivers, killing everything? Domestic tranquility? Ever sleep in a forest that's being clear-cut? You'd be hearing chain saws in your head for weeks. The blessings of liberty? Yes. I'm using one of the blessings of liberty right now, my freedom of speech, to tell you guys, who make the laws, that the very ground you stand on, the house you live in, the children you tuck in at night, are all in immediate, catastrophic danger."

I raised my eyebrows and swept my eyes over the crowd, noting that this last part seemed to get a reaction out of the people. That was Max: always getting a reaction.

"Every minute of every day, cars belch exhaust. Factories spew toxins into the air, land, and water. We've cleared millions of square miles of forests, rain forests, and plains, which means tons of topsoil is just washing away. Which means loss of animals and plants, and increased fires, floods, and coastal disintegration. Just by stuff people have made, created, we're raising the overall temperature of the entire atmosphere. Well, we only have the one atmosphere! What do you plan to do when it's destroyed? Can we all hold our breath until we get a new one?"

Well, Angel could just dive under water and hold her breath, but that wasn't really an option for most people. Hearing my thoughts, Angel giggled from the other side of Iggy.

"The problem is here, _now_. Nine of the ten hottest years ever recorded have happened in my lifetime. I'm fourteen. More or less. There have been record-setting weather extremes across the globe-- tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, droughts, wildfires, tsunamis. We're warming up the planet, and the planet's ice is melting. If only _fifty_ perfect of the world's ice melts, countless rivers and streams will overflow and then dry up, killing hundreds of thousands of people from disease and starvation. The ocean water level will rise anywhere from four feet to maybe twenty feet. How many of your favorite vacation spots would be under water? Want to see the Eiffel Tower by canoe? Do any of you own beach houses? Kiss 'em goodbye. And not two hundred years from now. Soon. Maybe within this lifetime."

I wondered off-handedly if we could live in the sky, just flying around, then decided our wings would eventually give out and we'd fall. Plus, how would we sleep?

"We can't reverse this disaster, even if we all pitched in now and did everything we could, which, face it, we're not going to do. A small percentage of us will do stuff, and other people will ignore the problem and hope they'll be dead before it gets really bad. But there are things we can do that would at least help. It would make a difference.

"The US could ratify the Kyoto treaty. Pretty much every country in the world, except us and Australia, has ratified it. How can we be so pigheaded?"

Oh, Max was getting into it now. Whenever she used the word 'pig' in a sentence, every male within a five-mile radius needed to flee. In this case, it was every American government official who had done nothing to stop global warming who needed to watch out.

I had zoned out again, and I brought myself back to the here and now as Max was saying, "…what we buy, who we buy it from. Use compact fluorescent bulbs. If every house in America replaced just _one_ of its regular light bulbs with a compact fluorescent, it would be like taking a million cars off the road. I mean, how hard is that? I can do the math, and I've never even gone to school!

"Look into other kinds of power. Windmills, water mills, solar power-- every year corporations pay a jillion dollars in legal fees to avoid getting fined for pollution violations. What if they took a tiny percentage of that money and put it toward coming up with better energy sources?

"Right now America looks like a fatheaded, short-sighted, gas-guzzling, arrogant blowhard to the rest of the world." Some faces in the crowd registered shocked at Max's choice of words, and I bit back a smirk. "And Sweden looks all clean and tidy and progressive. I mean, where's our sense of pride?

"Why can't _we_ be the progressive leaders, showing the rest of the world how to clean up its act? Why can't we, _the people_, get more involved and push through legislation that will help clean up our air, land, and water? Why can't we take government funds from stupid things like war and use them for programs that will develop better fuel sources?"

Max took a deep breath and brought her voice back to a normal level. "I'm just one kid, and not even a regular kid. But if I can come up with all this, why can't you? Will you wait until the water is lapping at your feet?"

I kept expecting her to start hollering about America being pigheaded again, or something along those lines, but she put the microphone back on the stand and turned to look at the each of the flock individually, her eyes meeting mine last.

I smiled at her and nodded just as Congress burst into applause, and her face reddened, and I half-expected her to move her hand where nobody could see it and flip me the bird.

But then she smiled back.

**One more chapter!**

**Since it's almost over… review?**


	74. Chapter 74

**Last chapter, guys! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who's read this story-- it's 74 chapters. That's quite a commitment. : ) Thank you!**

"Gee, a fancy school in northern Virginia," Iggy said under his breath. "How bad can it be?"

No, that sentence was not taken out of context. The flock-- and our dogs, for some reason-- were at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the school they'd built for us, the Lerner School for Gifted Children. I always thought _gifted_ meant _smart kid_, but apparently not, since we were supposedly attending this school.

Supposedly, meaning, if we got bored, or had another mission, or Max got mad for some reason, we'd be out of there in a heartbeat. Nobody wanted to come in the first place, but Dr. Martinez had managed to talk Max into this, too, so here we were.

"I'm sure nothing disastrous or life threatening will happen to us while we're here," Max said dryly, crossing her arms and watching the mayor of this town, whatever it was, walk up to the red ribbon.

"And now, without further ado, I give you the Lerner School for Gifted Children!" He cut the ribbon, and all the media that had turned out for this event-- was there usually a big ceremony for the opening of a school?-- started flashing their cameras.

Max suddenly stiffened-- I felt it instantly because we were standing arm-to-arm, squished together by the large crowd-- and I looked over to see her face glazed over, like she was talking to the Voice.

"Max?" I called her name softly, and she held up a finger, concentrating on the Voice. I rolled my eyes and looked down at Angel, standing on my other side.

_What's it telling her?_

Angel paused, then answered my mental question. _I think we're going on another mission._

I breathed out in relief. Good. We didn't have to attempt to further our education, after all.

Sure enough, a moment later Max turned to us and said, "Come on, guys. Gotta go. More world to save. All this book learning's going to have to wait."

The flock all had the same reactions I did, looking extremely glad.

"Max?" asked Dr. Martinez, stepping toward us. She, Ella, and Jeb were standing a few feet away, so they couldn't hear what we were saying, but it must have been obvious something was going on.

"Duty calls." Max hugged her and kissed her cheek, more willing to show affection than I'd ever seen her. "I'll let you know where I am. Thanks for everything."

"I love you," she said, and Max beamed, her whole face lighting up, making the entire universe brighter.

Then Dr. M stepped forward to wrap her arms around me, and I, startled, gingerly placed a hand on her back.

"I'd tell you to take care of Max, like last time," she whispered in my ear, "but I know you love her too much not to."

Stunned into silence, I said nothing, and then she was pulling away, smiling a smile I knew all too well and moving on to hugging Gazzy.

I watched Max and Ella laugh about something and then embrace, holding each other close. Her long blonde hair was spilling over her shoulders, gleaming in the sunlight, making me want to reach out and touch it, run my fingers through it.

I couldn't right now, of course, as I scooped up Akila and prepared to who-knows-where on yet another mission. But I thought back to the other day, in that hotel room, holding Max in her arms for that one amazing moment, her body fitting perfectly against mine. And I knew that nothing-- not the everyday stress of our lives, not Brigid, not Michael, not even Max's refusal to accept our relationship-- would keep that moment from happening again. In the end, no matter what path we took to get there, we would be together, right where we belonged.

**And there we are.**

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